Feathers, Leather and Lace
by Kagamichihime
Summary: High fashion, hot passion. In the modeling world where short tempers and a high tolerance for pain is the norm, the industry's top earner, Kaname Kuran, gets a run for his money from the sexy young upstart, Zero Kiryuu. Scandals and backstabbing ensue.AU
1. The Three F's

**A/N:** Some OOC, your milage may vary. There will be lemons later. Very lemony lemons. ;)

There are vampire components, come on, everything is better with vampires!

The relationship between vampires and humans in this fic is a very good one. Like in real life with different races, there are those who don't care, and those who are racist, prejudiced, and those who are accepting of anyone regardless of color or nationality. Vampires are generally looked upon to be just another race that laugh, cry, and bleed like everyone else, though they are a minority in this AU, and do face prejudices and stereotypes, like everyone else.

There are a lot of American references in this one. =O I have fallen from purity into AU AU.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Vampire Knight (or any of the mentioned Meru Puri elements), it all belongs to the ever amazing Matsuri Hino. I also do not own the song "Lucifer's Angel". It belongs to The Rasmus. I don't own any Starbucks stuff either.

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"ღ*~+~*ღ"

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There were three F's in the modeling industry; Fabulous, Fierce, and _______.

Fill in the blank, the other models did. Fabulous and fierce were what the camera was looking for, the third, however, was something that was different from model to model. Some used the term Full-Frontal, others said Flawless, some even said Friendly while many used more sophisticated adjectives. Whatever the third word was usually described their modeling style and or personality.

As for Kaname Kuran, whenever someone asked him what his third F was, he would joke around, giving different answers each time, depending on his mood. He used an array of words, Flirty, Flamboyant, Flagrant... Whatever his word was, it worked, for him to be one of the most successful models in the modern industry.

This life provided him with everything he had ever wanted, everything he could ever want. Despite his parents' protests, he had gone out into the world without a single thing to his name, nothing to even hint at his rich heritage, and turned his good looks and fashion sense into a career. It paid for everything, his Penthouse Suite in uptown Astale, his iPhone, the cherry red Lamborghini sitting in a valet parking spot in the lot below and whatever else he wanted.

_-BZZT!-_

_-Fly Away, Fly Away-  
-From the Torch of Blame-  
-They Hunt You-  
-Lucifer's Angels-  
-Never Lived, You Never Died-  
-Your Life has been Denied-  
-They Call You-  
-Lucifer's Angel-_

His cell buzzed, Lauri singing in a tenor tone as the device vibrated on his slept-in bedsheets, waking the prince from his slumber. Rolling over, he blinked sleepily at the neon blue numbers of an LED clock sitting on his nightstand. He rubbed at his eye gently, careful not to pull at the skin, lest he wanted premature wrinkling. Who the hell was calling him at ten thirty-seven in the morning on a Wednesday? Everyone should have known that he didn't start work until at least one on these days, so why was this poor, brave soul risking their job by angering him?

"Crap, what now?"

With a resigned sigh, he answered the phone before it could continue to rape his arm with its lewd vibrations.

"Hello?"

_"Hello? Is this Kaname Kuran?"_

Dear God, he hated it when people got his name wrong, especially when they sounded so cool and confident about it.

"Listen here, if you're going to be calling my cell, my personal number, asking for me, then you should at _least_ learn how to pronounce my name correctly. It's not, 'Ka-na-me,' it's_ 'Ka-namé__.' _Pronounce the damn 'e' like you would in_ 'café.'_ And it's Kuran as in _Koohrahn._" he snapped, sitting up from beneath his sheets.

_"Y-yes sir, m-m-my apologies,"_

Her voice seemed to lose all of his confidence, a personal pet peeve of his whenever he came across someone spineless. It meant he would have to drop his model attitude in order to complete the booking of a shoot. Even if he was the most in-demand model in the industry, there were some times he would have to drop the ice queen act and be gracious, to charm the panties off of the agents so they wouldn't feel too intimidated to invite him back.

"My apologies, miss," he said in a voice smooth as silk, a complete one-eighty from his scathing tone earlier. "I have just been positively busy with my spread in Razaludé over the last few days and just found a moment to lie don, but no matter, what is it that I can do for you?"

_"N-no problem. Haha, um, gosh, I'm so sorry to bother you, but I'm calling on behalf of Knight Modeling, they've finished your new clothing line, even changed the name at your request from Nine Orchids to Nine Orchards. We'd like you to come over around noon today and pick out the models you want to work with."_

Kaname laughed silently to himself as her voice became smooth and seductive as well, for what she lacked in spine she had in guts, a small reprimand, even though they would probably disappear without a supporting backbone.

"Ahh, wonderful!" he said warmly. "And might I ask who is calling so that I may speak with you at a later date?"

_"Ruka Souen, fellow model and agent for Knight Modeling."_

"Ruka, hm? That rolls right off the tongue, doesn't it?" he said with the lilt of a smirk. "Why don't you come by the shoot and let me have a look at you, possibly try to get you in with the Nine Orchards crowd. It's going to be the next big thing you know, but first, brunch maybe? If it's not too much trouble that is..."

It would pay for him to be nice to an agent, it would mean more money and fame for the both of them if things went over well.

_"Uh, ut, nn"_

Kaname smirked in amusement at her satisfied choking noises as she tried to voice a response.

"Too much trouble? I underst-"

_"No! Of course not! No trouble at all, I would love to go to brunch with you! Let me just tell my superiors-"_

"Ah ah, why don't you just meet me downtown at...

He pulled the phone away from his ear, tapping on the Google Maps application to type in the word 'Café', bookmarking the first decent place that came up.

"PePuri Café, say, thirty-minutes? _Our little secret_." he whispered the last part, sealing the deal.

_"PePuri Café, thirty minutes, I'll see you then."_

She sounded so close to imploding.

"See you then. Oh, and, wear some of the new line when you come over, my treat, I want to see you cloaked in nothing but my designs. Ta ta for now, _love_." he purred, hanging up as soon as he finished.

Kaname tossed his phone back onto the bed, all applications clearing once it went inactive, showing off his wallpaper.

The shot was taken in the Bahamas on a beach with pink sand and blueish, emerald waters with white capped foam that kissed the shoreline. There wasn't a cloud in the azure sky, the contrasting figure in the foreground attracting more attention than the scenery.

A young man was in the middle of sitting up along the gently sloping trunk of a palm tree, its leaves dashing sunlight over him, draping, casting a light, protective shadow over his creamy colored skin. He wore an open, ivory button-up Daemonya shirt with raspberry pinstripes, the right half worn properly, the left pooling around his elbow, the arm supporting his quest for uprightness against the light, rugged bark. The open shirt revealed his lightly toned chest and abdomen, dipping, leading down to where a faded pair of lavender, damaged jeans hung dangerously low on his hips, exposing the cuts of his pelvis, flirting with the top his closely shaved lower hairline.

One leg was curled around a piece of nearby driftwood, the other bent, nearly meeting with an elbow. His raspberry colored flip flops hung from the tips of his rabbit toes, enabling the view of a circle with horns on its inner heel, the official stamp of the Daemonya brand.

But it wasn't his clothes or the scenery that made this shot so impeccable. No, rather it was how Kaname sat, body half turned towards the camera, a hand in mid-action, running through his wet, brunette hair which was darkened by the volume of water in it. His lips were slightly parted, sienna eyes dazed but aware as they focused on the camera, like he had just woken from a nap. They held a sort of shine, a sort of lust-filled stare that one would have after awaking from a night in paradise with a lover...

That was what made the picture sell. The photographer himself even called it 'dripping sex'. Though it was rather cold at seventeen degrees Celsius, approximately sixty-three degrees Fahrenheit, and smelled of salt and windy surf, Kaname didn't show it, the true mark of a professional model. It was taken back in January, but would be used for the spring season of the current year. Seeing as it was now March, the Daemonya ad would soon be running. The three most popular colors for the season? Lavender, ivory and raspberry of course.

Kaname stretched, arching his back as he slipped his silk bedsheets from his nude form, wandering to the bathroom, passing a collection of various shots of himself for the upcoming season. A quick shower and a touch of makeup would be all he needed from there before he went to choose a spring outfit from his vast wardrobe. Season coordination was a given at all times of the year, unless there was a preseason photo shoot.

Ew, perhaps he would flatiron his hair too.

Looking into the mirror, Kaname tousled his messy brunette mop, making poses this way and that, running his fingers down his lanky form, over his sharp hipbones and softly defined abdomen. He was beginning to regret that traditional, red bean paste takiyaki he treated himself to last night. It wasn't that he was worried about getting fat, his metabolism was much too high for that, but with that in his system, he would be feeling sluggish for at least half the day. Soon he would be sitting in some Café, probably consuming God knows how much sugar was in those drinks and pastries.

With a sigh, his fingers slipped south, stroking himself as he prepared the water and stepped into the shower for a nice, long, luxurious wash.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"Fuck!"

A silver haired youth ran around his small apartment in downtown Astale, cursing himself for relying on his hunk of junk alarm clock and not setting his cell phone to wake him up instead. Now he was going to be late for work!

Grabbing a bite of toast between his canines, Zero snatched his house keys from the kitchen table, a lite coat, and his fully charged cell from the bathroom before locking up, pinching and nicking a finger in the process. He flew down three flights of stairs before rushing out onto the immensely noisy, busy streets, sprinting for almost four city blocks to his work, PePuri Café. He would put in a few hours there before heading down to the Knight Modeling building for his audition.

He rushed into the Café owned by his parents, the scent of black coffee, sweet cream and scones attacking him all at once.

"Zero! Sweetie!" his mother exclaimed when she saw his red-faced, panting form appear behind the counter. "I told you that if you're late it would be fine, I know how you like to sleep in. Won't you move back in with us? It's not the same without you here."

"Look who decided to show his face!"

Before Zero knew it he felt a tackle hug knock him into the back counter. A few customers stared, some with disturbed looks, the regulars with warmhearted smiles, amused with the normal family antics.

"I hope you had a great three day weekend, because we're going to work you to the bone today!" Ichiru growled, rumpling Zero's hair.

"Okay okay, get off of me!" he laughed, halfheartedly shoving his twin off of him. "Sorry mom, but you know I want to make it big on my own."

"We know that sweetheart, but you should at least let us pay you more than minimum wage, that dingy apartment of yours isn't a place you should be living in."

"Mom, I like my dingy apartment, I pay for the rent myself, it's all that I can afford, but I've earned it all." Zero said, removing his coat and tying an apron on over his polo shirt. "If I get a contract with Knight Modeling today then I'll move into a better part of town."

"Honey, I wish you wouldn't try to go into that particular agency, there are quite a few vampires there, not that there's anything wrong with that, but you'll have to have a high tolerance for pain and rejection, plus I hear there's a pureblood working for them. You do not want to upset one of them or they could change you like that." she snapped her fingers to demonstrate the time limit.

"Mom!" Zero's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "You're too young to be like that in today's world, there's nothing wrong with vampires."

"I know this but, well, you know we come from a long line of hunters. Old habits die hard. I've told you the tales about apprenticing with your great grandfather haven't I?"

"Only about a thousand times." Ichiru cut in with an eye-roll, pouring a cup of coffee for himself. "I'm going on break, Zero, man the front will you?"

"Sure thing."

Zero watched Ichiru as he disappeared up the staircase in the back, retreating to the family loft. He knew that his twin had felt dejected since he had moved out, but it wasn't like they were never going to see each other again. He had even asked Ichiru if he wanted to come with him, but the weaker twin had gotten upset, saying that if he wanted to go exposed into the world so badly that he could do it himself.

"He's just hurt, give him time."

The comforting weight of his mother's hand graced his shoulder. Zero nodded with a sigh, painting a small smile of greeting for the next customers - a couple that walked in, looking like they had just stepped out of a spring catalog, the very epitome of fashion. He walked over to the table with a pair of clean, laminated menus.

As he got an up-close look at the couple, he realized just how gorgeous they were.

"Oh, hello." the woman greeted as he came up, painted lips curving into a smirk.

Her caramel colored eyes were lined, lashes thickened with mascara. She was beautiful, with her very lady-like grace.

"Welcome to PePuri Café, can I get you anything to drink?" Zero asked breathlessly.

"Well we didn't come here just to sit and chat." the brunette man scoffed.

"You'd be surprised at the amount of people who stay to do that aft-"

Zero handed out the menus without another word, literally gawking at the smartass, soundlessly choking on the retort he was working his way up to.

His feathered mahogany hair fanned out against the right side of his face. The cut for his bangs curved softly in a downward arc across the other half of his face, brushing against his cheekbone, partially hiding one of his aloof sienna eyes as they scrutinized Zero. One shaped brow arching as he waited for Zero to finish his staring.

_Now_ was the time that he finally understood why so many people got that odd, emo haircut. Its uneven edges could be styles every which way, which was what Zero was seriously considering to do to the rude patron, who ran a hand through the lengthy, volumized back of his hair.

"You like, yes? Tell you what, if your service is excellent and the food is perfect, then I'll give you my stylist's business card, not that you can afford him, but it'll give you something to dream about." his lips barely moved, but the words came out clearly.

The woman laughed gently as his ears reddened, this bastard was really asking for it, wasn't he? He figured that he would keep his comments to himself. Judging from their regal air, they were probably a couple of vampires, or maybe wannabe vamps. It was fine though. He could see that the man was wearing Daemonya clothing that hadn't even come out in stores yet, and an expensive looking brand that he had never before seen, so he could tell they had money. They had probably just walked in out of curiosity. If he served them well, they would probably leave him some sort of a tip, whether out of pity or to show off he didn't care. It wasn't like he would be seeing either of them again, since the rich type didn't hang around the shop for long.

"That would be great, what can I start you off with?"

"I'll have a short Mocha Valencia, just the drink, no whipped cream." the woman said in the same, still lipped fashion.

"A venti Mocha, oh, and, bleed in it for me, will you?" he sneered.

Zero had no idea if he was kidding, but he seriously considered doing it. As he walked away, he could see the man yawn from the corner of his eye, long fangs protruding from his mouth. One or two of the other customers stilled before blinking and melting back into conversation.

In a few minutes Zero had the Mocha Valencia ready and another customer's order. His mother, who was making the man's Mocha, requested another few seconds as she disappeared up into the loft to fetch Ichiru for the brunch rush.

He delivered the pastries and drinks to some regulars, balancing trays and plates with skill before dropping off the single drink to the vampire table.

"Sorry, it'll be a few more seconds on that regular Mocha, we're a little short-handed at the moment." Zero apologized with a small bow. "Is there anything else that you would like?"

"I'd like my venti Mocha, but it seems like you couldn't even do that." he looked down his nose at Zero, the corner of his mouth pulling into a lopsided frown.

"Nothing else for me thank you, this is lovely, by the way."

The silver haired teen gave her a grateful look.

"Thank you very much miss." he smiled before disappearing to retrieve the man's finished drink.

Zero took the steaming cup to the back and located a knife, cutting into his already nicked finger, letting his life's blood trickle down into the cup. He dipped the blade in and stirred, the color changing from chocolate to a sienna, like the man's eyes. After rinsing and sealing the cut with a liquid bandage and a normal one, he brought the steaming cup straight to the table, setting it down with a graceful bow.

"I apologize for the wait, and, as a token of my sincerest apologies, your drinks are free of charge."

The brunette man's nostrils flared, as did the woman's, both of their brows shooting up at the same time. He picked up the cup gingerly, sniffing the rim before bringing it to his lips. His eyelids drooped as he drained the cup, suckling on the rim shamelessly. A light blush tinged his cheeks as he cast a sidelong glance at the teen.

He sent a silent signal to the woman, the both of them rising from their seats. The man reached into his pocket and retrieved his wallet, taking out random bills and a business card.

"This should be more than enough for the drinks and a generous tip." he said, stuffing them into Zero's apron, hand lightly brushing his thigh and member.

Zero's face turned red as he headed to the restroom.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Kaname had opted to wear the outfit he had on in his wallpaper, buttoned up mind you, but with an open collar. He met with Ruka at the Café within the allotted time, early enough to scrutinize her as they first met.

The woman had a full hourglass figure, adorned with a white, form fitting tube top with lace trim and a ribbon that wove through the front, tying into a small, raspberry colored bow. Beneath the flap of lace was a small v-shaped cut out, giving a teasing view of her breasts, which he wondered if they were fake. A matching clutch bag hung from her arm on a thin strap. Her cuffed Bermuda shorts had a plaid design of a white background and raspberry colored stripes, a similar small bow tying the sides of the cuff together in place of a button. Her heels matched the outfit and lace of the tube top, a ribbon weaving there too.

She ran a single finger through her bangs, along the dirty blond locks on either side of her head, smoothing them all the way back to where they kept the rest of her wavy hair in place.

"Nice to meet you, my name is Ruka Souen, please, take care of me." she smiled, fangs glinting in the sunlight.

All in all, Kaname was a genius, and she was a perfect candidate to model with him. It was a shame that they called her type 'plus sized'. She had a very thin waist, rather, she was well gifted.

"It's my pleasure," he bowed, plucking up her thin wrist to kiss her hand. "Let's go."

They entered the Café, adoring the rich barrage of scents it had to offer.

"I want something with orange." Ruka muttered, careful to keep her lips close and her words enunciated.

There wasn't a single vampire in the store, and a pare of intimidatingly gorgeous ones might have scared quite a few people, so most had learned to speak in a tight lipped manner for such occasions.

"Order whatever you like, it's on me."

Though Kaname knew he had to charm people, he wished he would get to do it to more men than he had to with women. With the sort of industry he worked in, you'd think there was an endless supply of gay, at the very least bisexual men like him. But alas, he was always either too intimidating, of too much in a difficult position to find a male lover. He'd had to make do with females for far too long, and he was hellbent on picking a cute guy with a nice body to apprentice under him, which he meant both figuratively, and literally.

"Welcome to PePuri Café, can I get you anything to drink?"

Kaname rolled his eyes, giving the waiter a careful once over. Semi-long, silver hair, lilac eyes that were made for spring fashion, subtle feminine features on his androgynous face that would make him workable for several different types of magazines, many of them closely matching his own work. Wow, he had to stop this. His scouting would commence in a few hours, not now, while his hormones were crazed and raring to go.

"Well we didn't come here to just sit and chat." he scoffed, sounding irritated.

There was something wrong with the kid, who stared in awe at him. Now that he thought about it, he couldn't be more than a year or so younger than himself, no doubt with less experience though. He arched a brow, absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair, waiting, waiting, speaking when the idiot wouldn't spit it out.

"You like, yes? Tell you what, if your service is excellent and the food is perfect, then I'll give you my stylist's business card, not that you can afford him, but it'll give you something to dream about." he couldn't help but tease.

Ruka gave him a knowing look, catching on to his haughty attempt at flirting. The idiot just smiled after a long moment.

"That would be great, what can I start you off with?"

"I'll have a short Mocha Valencia, just the drink, no whipped cream." Ruka said, licking her lips slightly, not in an attempt to flirt, but in hunger.

Kaname could tell that it had been a while since she had any blood, judging on how pale her complexion looked. Speaking of blood...

"A venti Mocha, oh, and, bleed in it for me, will you?"

A horror-stricken look ghosted across his face for a moment before he walked away. Kaname took this chance to yawn widely, revealing his fangs, immensely enjoying how he and a few other patrons stiffened in retreat.

"Bisexual?" Ruka asked, now treating him more like a girlfriend than a potential love interest.

Kaname was able to relax considerably after that comment, seeing as he probably wouldn't have to beat her away with a figurative baseball bat if she came to that understanding.

"Sort of." they both chuckled at the in between answer for the in between orientation. "You?"

"Straight, but I have a vast appreciation for the bodies of women, so then I guess you could say curious?"

"Well we don't know what we are, now, do we?"

Ice broken, they both laughed and chatted for the next few minutes until the idiot waiter came back with Ruka's drink, turning to address Kaname.

"Sorry, it'll be a few more seconds on that regular Mocha, we're a little short-handed at the moment." Zero apologized with a small bow. "Is there anything else that you would like?"

"I'd like my venti Mocha, but it seems like you couldn't even do that." he looked coyly at the waiter, the corner of his mouth pulling into a lopsided frown.

"Nothing else for me thank you, this is lovely, by the way."

The silver haired teen gave her a grateful look.

"Thank you very much miss." he smiled before disappearing.

"Kaname, you don't think he took your order seriously, do you?" Ruka asked with a smirk.

"Dunno. He did look like an idiot." he allowed.

"I apologize for the wait, and, as a token of my sincerest apologies, your drinks are free of charge." the waiter said as he came back with the drink a minute later, sinking into a bow.

Both he and Ruka were surprised to smell that the mocha was indeed laced with blood. Sneaking a peek at the waiter's smug expression dispelled the assumptions he had been making for the past ten minutes, as he indeed knew exactly what was going on.

It was a shame that he didn't know exactly what he was possibly getting himself into.

He picked up the cup gingerly, sniffing the rim before bringing it to his lips. His eyelids drooped as he upended the cup, suckling on the rim shamelessly. A light blush tinged his cheeks ad he cast a sidelong glance at the teen.

Kaname was on a no-blood diet, and now it had just been spoiled. His aggressive side would be rearing its ugly head soon, thanks to that guy. He had no idea whether he wanted to hit the guy or rape him.

He sent a silent signal to Ruka, the both of them rising from their seats. Kaname reached into his pocket and retrieved his wallet, taking out random bills and a business card. He decided to opt for the latter.

"This should be more than enough for the drinks and a generous tip." he said, stuffing them into the waiter's apron, hand groping against the teen's thigh and cock.

Damn he was a good size!

Kaname kept his laughter to himself as he watched the teen retreat into the back, placing a hand over a subtle bulge as he disappeared through the doorway.

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"ღ*~+~*ღ"

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**A/N:** I wonder if you guys remember how nice Zero used to be before he caused Touga to lose an eye, witnessed his parents' deaths, and watched as his brother betrayed him and ran off with the pureblood who sent his life to hell. I do, hence why he's somewhat nice here, sort of, since none of that ever happened. But rest assured, I can't make Zero be totally OOC. lol

I don't go to Starbucks, so I might have screwed few things up.

A lot of research went into this. o_O

**In the Extras Section on my profile, there is a link to the picture I drew of Ruka in her outfit.** I suck at drawing men, so I'll make Kaname's later.

**Review:** Tell me what you think? Reviews inspire me to write more. :D


	2. Visual Kei

**A/N:** This fic was received so much better than I thought it would be! It was absolutely amazing how well FLaL went over. I was so pleased that I ended up writing about one fourth of this chapter the next night, before I realized I still had to work on BIaE Ch.2.

**Update:** There is now a picture available for Kaname's Visual Kei outfit on my profile in the Extras section of my profile! I'm going to repost the update on the next chapter as well, since a lot of you will probably miss this one.

**Thanks: **To the familiar reviewers, and to the new ones, each and every one of you guys really inspire me! I love all of you. A specified thank you goes out to **Lenko**, for enthusiastically supporting me in most of my active works! Also, thank you to those who put this on their alert list. maybe I can write a good enough chapter worth your feedback one day if you haven't done so already. ^^ Spanish, Tagalog, French, I'll translate foreign feedback if some aren't that confident in their English.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own the song "Hades". It belongs to the badass band, Dir En Grey.

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"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

Zero had stopped short of his destination once he got to the back supplies room.

"Calm down! You can't go to the audition like this. Focus, focus..."

Oh he was focusing alright, on the lingering feeling of that guy's hand on his crotch.

"Damn it all!"

"Geez, I thought I was all alone in hiding out back here, but I guess I was wrong."

Zero looked up at his reflection, well, twin, who was sitting, legs crossed on a fifty pound bag of flour reading an old issue of Eucharista.

The beige colored background of the catalog cover featured a young woman with auburn hair in a three-quarter pose. Her fringe stopped above her brows, the rest of her hair divided into thirds to fall down her back and shoulders, curling about half way down into thick spirals. Her mysterious dark eyes were enchanting, fragile, expectant, as if she would fade away at any moment. Snow white ribbons were tied along her arms and hands, disappearing off the page like elegant puppet strings, a stark contrast to the frilly crimson dress she wore. It only had one sleeve on her right side, cut out into a sidelong point, scrunched and bunched into ruffles like the skirt. She wore a matching headpiece with lace, a ribbon in the top with a satin rose in the center that tilted to the right side of her hair, as frilly and Gothic Lolita as the dress.

Her arms were draped around a white cello as if that were the point anchoring her to this realm. The caption below it read:

**_K a n o n W a k e s h i m a_**

_Exclusive interview with one of the most successful human models and her rise to fame as a styling songstress, p.66_

"Huh, you know this is the first time I've ever seen her right arm, usually it's covered by a warmer." Ichiru muttered, chomping on a scone.

Could Zero get no privacy?

"Out, mom is looking for you and I need a moment."

"Tsk tsk tsk, oh dear, having problems with your ambiguous sexuality already? This early in the day?" his brows rose in mock surprise, eyes widening innocently.

"I just..." he grunted, trying to mash the heel of his hand down on his partial erection, trying to make it submit without the use of stimulation.

"You're just... what? Having cramps? You can ask mom for a tampon you know, maybe it'll keep you from bleeding in the customer's coffee."

"You don't know what happened." Zero snapped as the excess blood finally began to drain from more than his face.

"Stop underestimating me just because I'm younger. We come from the same lineage you know. I may not be as keen as you are, but I could definitely sense what they were." he rose, indifferently rolling up the magazine as it it were a coupon catalog.

"Hey, don't roll that up! It's my favorite issu- ow to the head!"

Ichiru had swat him soundly over the skull, making Zero's head smart, his silver hair flying into disarray.

"And I know that you provoked them! You're in for it now, mom could sense that something was up."

"Sorry! Sheesh, I wasn't thinking."

"Oh you were thinking alright, just not with the correct head. I saw how he put that tip in your apron, pretending to secure it inside when he was really copping a feel. If you go putting in 'extras'," he used air quotes at that word. "Then soon every vampire that walks through the door will expect us to bleed ourselves dry to sate their needs."

"I see you've grown a backbone lately." Zero eyed his brother reproachfully, rubbing at the faint lump that Kanon's cello had left on his scalp.

"I guess living on your own does that." he looked pointedly at his twin, sighing and gathering him up.

Ichiru didn't resist at his brother pulled him into a light embrace.

"Look, I'm sorry that I left you here and went off on my own, but it's something I feel like I have to do." Zero's voice was low and soothing as his arms rested around his reflection.

"But I get so lonely," his defenses broke down for the first time in a while as he accepted the warm gesture, coiling his arms around Zero in return. "It felt like you didn't want to be a team any more." sure he was embarrassed to admit it, but he could tell Zero anything, and vice-versa.

"Ichiru, we're growing up. We have to be able to be independent from each other. We will always be a team, but we're also individuals. It's hard for me too, but this is my dream."

"Since you put it that way," he sighed. "Then I support you."

A smile played across Zero's lips.

"Thanks."

"It's nice that you two are reconciling, but with the both of you back here, just who the heck is going to help me with the brunch rush?"

"Hello? Hikari-san?" a voice called from the shop.

"It'll be just a second sir!"

Their mother stood in the doorway, tapping her foot with a stern expression. The twins pulled apart, laughing sheepishly. She brushed a few silver strands of hair behind her ear to better glare at them, a habit she had whenever ticked off.

"We'll be there mom."

"See that it's sooner than later." she shot an 'I-told-you-so' look at Zero before her frown melted into a crooked smile as she left.

"Come on, let's do our best, HEY!"

Zero felt a hand slip into the pocket of his apron, fishing around for the tip that was resting in its depths.

"I'll consider this payment for not telling mom about you bleeding in the coffee." Ichiru smiled, counting the bills. "The hell? Zero, you hit the jackpot!"

Zero counted the bills with him, loosing track after they hit a thousand dollars from half the roll. A business card fell out from the center, breaking the older twin out of his money trance.

As he bent down to pick it up, a pair of silver scissors in the bottom left-hand corner of the white card caught his eye. A red ribbon overlapped one of the blades, as if it were about to be cut. There, printed in gold, foil lettering was the name 'Takuma Ichijou'. Above it, the words 'Knight Modeling' were printed in an italic, book antiqua font, a silhouette logo of a man posing on horseback was right next to the name. The address and other bits of information about the styling department was provided, but Zero couldn't take his eyes off of the company name.

"BOYS!" a muffled command came from the front.

"Coming!" they answered in unison, scrambling to run out and appease their mother.

"Take this out to table four, this to eight, these to one, and when you get back, start on table six's order."

The twins picked up the trays of food and drinks, running out to the dining area. They greeted customers, shared a few laughs, and ran right back to start cooking the four rice omelets for table six.

"Whoever that guy was, he sure was loaded!" Ichiru exclaimed, unable to contain his excitement. "The first thing I'm getting is a new iPhone, and, I guess I'll get you one, big bro, since you went through the trouble of being molested for the cash and all. Heck, maybe_ I'll_ try bleeding in that guy's coffee the next time he comes back."

"No thanks." Zero frowned as he cracked a few eggs into a bowl, whisking them until they became somewhat frothy. "You can buy yourself an iPhone, I'm fine with my prepaid one."

"Ugh, seriously Zerorin? What is with you and your aversion to luxury?" Ichiru wrinkled his nose, staring out of the corner of his eye as he diced peppers, onions and mushrooms, sprinkling them into a large pan with sauteing chicken. "Would it kill you to indulge every once in a while? I have no idea why you're going out for modeling if you have a problem with lavish settings."

"I told you not to call me that! We aren't four anymore!" he scathed, adding rice to the stir fry."Besides,_ that's_ a secret."

"I don't see what the big secret is, that type of work just doesn't suit you. Become a chef or something, you're good at cooking."

"You're burning the filling." Zero pointed out.

"See what I mean?" Ichiru tried to reason as he took the pan off of the heat.

"I'm not going to fall in line with the family just like that, Fate can keep her grubby little mitts off of my string, I won't fit into the loom she's wanting me in."

"I thought you didn't believe in Fate." the younger twin eyed him speculatively.

"Precisely."

"You'll need a lot more guts and," he snapped his fingers three times. "attitude than that if you want to survive in the industry. You'll have to stomach and take a lot more crap than what I give you to be able to get noticed. If I can get away with bullying you out of your tips, then they can squander you out of a check, or contract."

"Good point, good point,"

Zero felt a pull at the corner of his lips, a single side tilting up into a pronounced smirk. He moved the filling into a few separate pans of eggs, folding them into fluffy omelets before plating them with garnish.

"What, oniisan?" Ichiru knew he was dying to make a point.

"Check your pockets, otouto." he grinned, walking away with the completed order.

"Pockets?" he asked, checking like he was told.

The money was gone.

"You damn jerk!"

Zero laughed on his way out of the kitchen, delivering the plates to table six. Underneath the apologetic waiter act he had perfected at the Café over the years, was a cheeky little bastard dying to come out.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Kaname. Was. Pissed.

And when he industry's top model had his panties in a bunch, by God, he was going to dig into everyone's asses until theirs did too.

He strutted off of the elevator and onto the fifth floor studio, wearing Ruka on his arm like an accessory, a pair of white, tinted frame-less Daemonya sunglasses sitting low on his nose. The moment his raspberry colored flip flops touched the white linoleum he was swarmed by a flurry of people, agents, make up artists, stylists, all of them begging for him to do something or another. Kaname breezed by them like they weren't even there, demonstrating his position to Ruka, who was beginning to feel threatened by how easily he could brush off anyone he pleased.

"Settle down, all of you! I have a scouting appointment set for one fifteen, and as I have decided to grace all of you with my presence early, instead of being fashionably late," he paused for dramatic effect. "I will be giving a runway demonstration to the aspiring little fledglings." he finished, waving to the luminous white catwalk.

Kanamé was in the building, be afraid, be very afraid.

It was when he was working his alter ego did Kaname truly shine as a model. Yes, he was that vainglorious as to use his own name for a stage name, but he'd long since paid his dues to earn that right. He strutted over to the vanity mirror and had a seat in a barber's chair, five people falling in line at his side, awaiting instructions.

"Miss, I'm sorry, but the floor is closed to all other models but Kanamé-sama at the moment, please come back when we open up for the scouting." a mousy brunette girl took Ruka gently by the arm, intending to lead her away.

"I'm allowed to be here, you know." she frowned. "I am an agent-"

"You!" Kaname yelled at the girl, who flinched on the spot.

"Yes Kanamé-sama?"

"Don't _'Kanamé-sama'_ me." he snapped. "Are you blind or what? Did you not just see her walk in here on my arm? Who are you?"

"N-nezumi Nezu, my a-apologies!" she said with a bow.

Another stutterer, perfect.

"Hm, yes, I remember you." he said with a grin.

Nezumi flushed, looking positively pleased to be addressed by him. Ruka eyed the pureblood, not trusting his intentions with the girl, very aware of what was about to take place.

"Y-you do?" she asked breathlessly.

"Yes," Kaname replied sweetly. "You were the one who almost fucked up the last photo-shoot because you couldn't tell the difference between raspberry, and raspberry-fucking-rose." he grinned.

Nezumi looked shocked, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Kaname stared her down with an icy glare, feeling no pity for the disgusting, whimpering girl.

"You're fired." he muttered nonchalantly, running a finger straight across his neck before turning the barber's chair back around to face the vanity station. "Have security escort her out."

Ruka couldn't decide whether or not to laugh, though she held her tongue, to look professional of course. She hadn't yet earned enough credentials to act like a queen bee, and she wouldn't ruin her good graces with Kaname by trying to get the girl's job back.

"Come here." Kaname waved at Ruka without turning around. "I want you to coordinate with me..."

This surprised her, she hadn't expected to assist him on the first day of their meeting. Ruka approached a nearby vanity, surprised at how people, so willing to please Kaname, flocked to her as well. The scent of pressed powder and different fabrics tickled her senses while the soft vanity lights warmed her skin.

The outfitters, makeup artists, and other staffs hovered, awaiting orders, brushes and hairspray at the ready.

"Hmm, we don't need to take in any pansies, so we should cut straight to the heart of 'shocking'. Everyone, we will be doing a Visual Kei theme for this session, to demonstrate the extremities that modeling can demand of us."

Everyone seemed to move at once, powder foundation flew into the air, yards of fabric and accessories were pulled from racks. Measurements were being taken from Ruka as the two were stripped of their clothing, they seemed to have Kaname's memorized. Curling and flat irons were heating up when the scent of chemicals diffused into the air, neon colored hair dyes were pulled out while accommodations were made.

Kaname went straight over to the sink once he was thoroughly stripped. A blond, Takuma, started to place strips over his skin near the hairline as he quickly worked over his hair, sectioning it off into a few strands for highlights before brushing a solution of bleach and peroxide into them. He watched Ruka skip straight to the dying process once all her measurements were turned in, as her hair was light enough to not need any special bleaching, the lucky bitch.

Fourteen minutes of searing pain later, Takuma leaned him back into the sink, rinsing the chemicals out completely before blow drying his hair into a tuff of fluff. He brushed, and once again sectioned off strands before hot pink was glossed into the platinum locks and wrapped with foil.

The pureblood sighed as he waited, thinking about the cute silver haired waiter back at PePuri Café. He instantly became jealous, realizing that he probably wouldn't have had to sit through a painful bleaching.

But then again, Kaname _was _a masochist...

After nearly half an hour had gone by before the dye was rinsed out. A conditioner was raked through his hair three times before the stylist was satisfied, blow drying his hair once more so he could start styling. He and Kaname carried on a short conversation about his goals during the process as he flat ironed, hair-sprayed, and shaped the pureblood's hair into volumized, swept back spikes with wax.

Takuma was young, but probably one of the best stylists that he had ever come across. He had a steady boyfriend, and went to college. Kaname really respected that, and was determined to help him get to where he needed to go in life, which surprisingly, wasn't really any different from where he was at the moment.

"So you still want to be a stylist, for whom?" Kaname asked, feeling his feather light touch tweak the spiked into place.

"One day, I want to work for Dir En Grey, them and other Visual Kei bands. I want to be the best in that field." Takuma sighed wistfully.

"I'll see what I can do about getting you credit." Kaname nodded stiffly, trying not to mess with the styling, smiling when he heard the blond laugh.

"Thanks, you know, you're not as scary as everyone tries to make you out to be around here, but I don't blame you. I know for a fact that you'd probably be taken advantage of if you were to show a sweet side twenty-four seven."

"Like you wouldn't believe." he sighed.

"You're still pretty good about taking care of some of us though, so I guess, there's that." the blond mused.

"Hey now, if I get a nice-guy reputation, my career's going to shit. Don't go spreading those rumors." he eyed Takuma playfully in suspicion.

"Like it or not, I'm a faithful man." he sung, finishing up.

"Can't blame a guy for trying." Kaname smirked, getting up and rubbing his ass from sitting for so long.

"You know that if I wasn't with your cousin I would be all over you."

"Please, I still say that Shiki shouldn't be double dipping between you and Rima." he snorted.

"Oh, but he isn't." Takuma gave him an 'if you know what I mean' grin.

Kaname raised his hands in surrender.

"I see."

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Well it was a good thing that Zero had finally turned to relying on his phone for alarms, otherwise he would have missed the audition altogether. He was already running a few minutes late because he had opted to change into an ivory and silver pinstripe button up and denim blue jeans before hightailing it to the Knight Modeling building.

Avoiding the slow elevator altogether, he chose to run up the stairs four steps at a time. Thank goodness for long legs. If he wasn't sweating, or flushed, or smelled like a combination of breakfast and chocolate, he might have been more confident when he walked onto the fifth floor, but his luck so far had only been with that vampire from this morning.

Perhaps the card that was given to him was a good thing. Maybe he could find this 'Takuma Ichijou' and ask him about breaking into the industry. Or that haughty, vain bastard, but he tried not to think about that.

Zero entered the white showroom as he stepped through the door from the landing, disappointed to find that the room was crowded with newcomers, their body heat warming the room even with the air conditioning on full blast.

"Excuse me, sorry, excuse me, I'm meeting someone." Zero muttered as he squeezed through the throng, meeting and matching some glares and frowns.

"Hey, watch it , human!"

Well, when eloquence didn't work...

"Fuck off to you too." Zero shoved past the guy, banging into his shoulder as he went.

Nobody said the industry was a nice place. While Zero was naturally a nice person, he knew how to separate himself from his work, and this was definitely going to be work. He brushed off the little whisper in his mind telling him to go back and apologize, but he countered it with the logic that he would probably never see the dude again.

Somehow, he had made it to the stage with less confrontation than he expected. Quite a few people were pleasantly surprised when he sincerely used his manners on them, turning up the charm, guys and girls alike let him pass. He gazed down the long catwalk that wasn't as crowded the further down it went. It seemed like most people had wanted to stay near the front of the stage.

The silver haired youth ran a hand through his drenched hair, half from sweat, half from the water he had doused on himself after sticking his head under the faucet. Fortunately, his hair smelled of the shampoo he used, a spicy scented one that he just bought.

Huh, maybe it was less the shock of being treated politely and more the stun of his good looks that got him by so many people. Perhaps his presence had carried him through the possibly five hundred plus people there. Though it was haughty of him to think, he did look rather sexy with his hair wet, and collar unbuttoned. Otherwise, he thought he looked average. It probably helped that he gave off a rude vibe when he was being so polite, like a grudging tsundere, people seemed to eat that crap up.

At least he didn't have to act.

Suddenly the lights went dim as the loud screech of a guitar sounded over the surrounding speakers, the opening rift falling into a stable rhythm as the crowd cheered, whether because they recognized the song, or the figure that appeared beneath a spotlight at the beginning of the runway, he wasn't sure. The man marched forward at his own pace that somehow still managed to sync up with the song, and Kyo's chilling trills and guttural screams.

_-NIGHT MARE saa otabe CANDY-  
-NIGHT MARE HETERO kaika sa muchi naru CANDY-  
-NIGHT MARE boutokusei CANDY-  
-NIGHT MARE ...-_

The crowd was entranced by him as he drew closer, working the open black, sleeveless PVC trench coat that was lined with hot pink leopard print in the inside. He had a collar with the same pink material that stemmed more of the black PVC over the base of his neck, down his chest, stopping at a little inverted 'V' before his diaphragm. His swinging arms donned warmers that started at his middle finger and stopped at his elbow, laced up with pink ribbon. His flat, slightly toned abdomen was bared, pale beneath the spotlight as the muscles rippled back and forth with his strong gait.

_-NIGHT MARE saa namete CANDY-  
-NIGHT MARE HETERO kaiga sa "teiousekkai souzouninshin" no CANDY-  
-NIGHT MARE doutokusei CANDY-  
-NIGHT MARE ... I WISH-_

A silver music note buckle glinted against a black belt that held up his short shorts, a ribbon of hot pink leopard fringe falling to his shins, swaying with his walk, enhancing his fluidity on stage. The black, knee-high motorcycle boots he moved so effortlessly in caught the light with all of its polished metal, blinding some of the audience when he came nearer.

_-Certain rouse of mine which lies in a single mistake-  
-and a meaning of freedom to commit suicide-  
-I'll be killed by HANGMAN-  
-I'll make you feel good-_

His heavily made up face looked expressionless, nearly bored even as he stomped to the end of the runway, face white, eyes heavily lined, a black star outline extending over his eye and temple. It was then that he posed and turned, a smug smirk playing on his pale pink lips that looked oh so familiar.

_-CANDY DRAG ...MY SWEET DRAG-_

He rolled his hips and gave a final pose as Kyo's digitized voice uttered the lyrics, a hand on his hip, feet apart with more weight on his back leg, pointing into the audience. The crowd erupted into earsplitting cheers of approval as a neon sign in the background lit up with what Zero was assuming to be his name.

**_K a n a m__ é_**

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

**A/N:** This chapter was tiring, fun, and demanding. Like someone we all know. *coughkanamecough*

**Reviews:** Please, Thank you, And I would love you forever. ;)


	3. Sabotage

**A/N:** For those who didn't catch the announcement I added in the last chapter at a date later than the initial release, I have drawn Kaname in his Visual Kei outfit. It's unfinished for the most part, just the basic concept design and such, but if you want to check it out, it's under the extras section in my profile. Also, I have a picture up of both Kaien and Yagari. I'm have another two done, but one of them is rated triple X, and another is of Shiki and Rima, both are yet to be revealed. Those are for later chapters.

Sorry for being so late, work got in the way. DX

**Disclaimer:** I don't own the lyrics for Breaking The Habit. Linkin Park owns the rights.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

"Where's that kid?"

Kaien walked back and forth across the tension grid above the catwalk, eying the crowd below. He had been operating the spotlights, music and timing as Kaname made his appearance, all the while searching for his latest muse, smirking as the pureblood made his opening speech.

"Maybe he didn't show." said Yagari in a deep, rich voice, lighting a cigarette, which was promptly snatched and outed.

"Touga-kun! How many times have I told you not to smoke up here? Not only is it a safety hazard, but you'll also ruin your looks!"

"Tch." he frowned, sending the bespectacled man a brief glare, shifting his weight from one leg to the other. "I've been smoking for the past decade and I still look gorgeous. You're such a worrywart, Kaien."

He ran a hand through his curly raven hair, leaning back along the guard rail in his navy button up, open with the right sleeve pushed up. The sweetly burning scent of tobacco drifted to Kaien's nose as Touga sighed out the single drag he got, making the photographer's shutter finger twitch. The man looked very much like he belonged in a cigarette advertisement, perhaps the one person who was untouched by the harmful aging effects of the cancer sticks. He quickly gathered his thoughts, focusing on finding his new muse as he turned to scout beyond the control panel.

"Shut up and help me look, he's got silver hair, you can't miss him."

"You mean that drowned rat by the stage?" Touga lifted a brow, skeptical at how such a person could hold Kaien's interest aside from himself. "There's nothing special about him." he huffed, turning to look away from Kaien's backside.

"He doesn't look like a drowned rat." Kaien frowned, twisting back to the pouting man. "After we pass him off to Ichijou, he'll climb to the top of this industry. Do you have any idea how in-demand he'll be just because of his hair alone? Not to mention that his head shots are spectacular, and the other ones as well. Simply breath-taking. I want to capture him."

Touga narrowed his eyes in jealousy, sneering at the photographer.

"Oh, he was the only one brave enough to put up nude photographs on his profile, wasn't he?" he pushed up off of the rail, taking a few steps forward to lean across the low control panel next to Kaien. _"You're just looking for fresh meat..."_

"You think you know me so well, but that's where you're mistaken." Kaien said coolly, pulling his burgundy robe closed around his chest, cutting off Touga's view of his chest.

It was the only cloth he was wearing at the moment, which was usually the case when lounging around. The robe was just long enough for him to maintain his modesty if he bent over, though the sash did like to loosen from time to time. His toned legs and thighs were hairless and as lanky as the rest of his body, enhancing his suave, dreamy air, even if his tied-up hair ruined the overall feel in Touga's opinion.

"I wish you would let your hair down, quit tying it with that stupid ribbon. It makes you unattractive." he growled in frustration.

"If I were to run around with my hair loose you wouldn't be able to focus." Kaien smirked, dangling one of Touga's few weaknesses in his face.

"Speaking of loose, for their sake I sure hope you're wearing boxers. If one of them happens to look up, they'll be scarred beyond repair."

"Funny, since you seem to like being scarred." he continued in the same tone, rubbing his crotch against Touga's dark-washed denim leg, letting him feel his stiffness beneath the satin.

The raven-haired model sucked in a breath, letting it out in a long, low hiss as he rubbed his leg against Kaien, eliciting a sweetly strangled moan from his throat.

_"Nnh!"_

He grabbed at something, anything to make him stable again, pawing at the controls without noticing what he was doing. the spotlight wavered for a split second, nearly moving off of Kaname on the catwalk. Kaien quickly pressed a shutter button on the panel for the left drop camera, the one close to the control panel where they were. He knew that Kaname would have noticed the slip and done something spontaneous once scared out of character. Taking a snapshot was the best damage control he could muster--his best snapshots were taken when he was caught off guard.

Touga cupped Kaien's chin, pressing a rough kiss to his lips, smirking when he responded, seeking more. The model opened his mouth, allowing Kaien access to play with his tongue, tasting the smoky flavor of tobacco and hint of cinnamon that the photographer loved so much. It balanced perfectly with Touga's partiality to his earthy taste sweet mint undertones.

"Still interested in that little drowned rat?" Touga pulled away, chuckling in a husky tone, noticing how Kaien's bottom lip turn red beneath his snowy teeth.

"Hmm, yes, and you'll train him." he smirked. _"Argh!"_

Touga ground his knee against him with more force than necessary, insulted by the thought of training another one of the photographer's muses.

"I don't think so." growled the model, making a hasty retreat to the nearest ladder down, the steel grate echoing lowly with his every angry step.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Once the neon lights flared to life, Kaname took his cue. He struck three quick poses, each from different angles, syncing up with the loud audio feed of clicking shutters. The poses he had made just seconds before appeared on a trio of white screens around his name.

As he gazed out at the sea of people, he cleared his throat, enunciating into the small microphone bug hidden in his lapel, injecting a subtle note of seduction into his tone. It was similar to his 'pureblood voice', but much less dangerous.

**"Welcome, fledglings. So which of you wants to achieve dreams of fame and fortune through Knight Modeling?"**

The crowd roared, causing his smirk to spread. This was the adoration he was so used to. He glowed beneath the shine and heat of the spotlights, the center of attention, enthralled in his element. This was his show, the first step in his quest for worldwide recognition. He easily fell into his character of Kanamé, so comfortable in his vainglorious position that he allowed his inner haughtiness to show, exacerbated by the blood he drank earlier.

**"Well, as you may know, this is the scouting for the all new, Nine Orchards line! And if you don't, then I ask, why the hell are you here?"**

He gave a short, enchanting laugh at their expense, seeing a person here or there fidget, apparently unaware of the brand they were blindly auditioning to represent. Others joined him in his mirth, appreciative of his demeaning sense of humor as excited whispers erupted throughout the crowd.

**"Settle down loves, you may think that modeling is all glitz, glamor and gall, but it's much more than that. As I have just demonstrated for you, a model must always hold poise and passion. An amateur's thoughts will lay bare before the camera, and as the world you seek is such an unforgiving one,"**

Kaname paused, biting his lip in mid sentence, loving the way the audience leaned forward, anticipating more, hanging on his every word. He commanded total attention...

Aside from the single scoff that was huffed out beneath him.

His lips pursed into a thin line, which he quickly curled into a smirk to cover up his displeasure. Ignoring the bastard, Kaname pressed on.

**"We strive for perfection and no less. This is a highly demanding art you've chosen to pursue! And by having the spine to even stand before me today is only the beginning of the pressing matters you will be facing. The faint of heart and weak of stomach should not take this lightly, as it is an occupation that requires a high tolerance for pain, chaos and the most underestimated of downfalls - mischief and mayhem."**

A few people, mostly timid youth, _human_, timid youth, looked like they were going to have a panic attack. Others, mostly the vampire hopefuls, hid their frayed nerves, but Kaname could spot them all, could have separated the entire room in that very moment--the dreamers from the realists, the weak from the strong.

**"You think you can handle fame?"**

Most of the crowd riled up again, yelling out their approvals.

**"You think you can handle pressure?"**

**"YES!"**

**"Then I'll let you ALL in on a little secret,"**

He winked at them, crouching low, a single finger over his lips in a shushing notion. The spotlight swerved on him, breaking his focus, causing him to send a glare to the two men hidden in the tension grid. Another picture was taken, replacing his center photo on the wall behind him. He was horrified at the thought of being caught off guard within his alter ego, pirouetting on the spot to examine the new photo.

It was one of the best Visual Kei shots he had ever taken. He looked like the lead singer out of a PV, fangs bared, eyes narrowed, squinting in anger, stance very animalistic. It was fierce, fabulous, and oh so...

Without missing a beat he raised his arms to the photograph, drawing the audience's attention to it when he remembered what he was about to say.

**"The camera commands you! It is your master, and he demands three F's-- Fierce! Fabulous! And most importantly....."**

Kaname looked over his shoulder, seeing the cross-like shadow that fell over the aspirants from his figure, blinking slowly, captivating the quiet audience.

**_"You'll find out."_**

Licking his lips invitingly, Kaname was about to strut back down the catwalk through the sounds of their cheers to begin the tedious scouting process, when another scoff pricked at his ears.

He turned to look down at the rude fledgling, seriously considering calling him out. With the foreign blood coursing through his system, he felt like a royal jerk, and now this guy, in addition to that make-up girl from earlier, would suffer his wrath.

The silver shine caught his eye, bright, standing out against the rest of the crowd.

It was that little jerk who laced his drink!

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

There wasn't a more pigheaded jerk than the one strutting his stuff like a big shot down that runway. His actions were haughty, as was his speech, even his melodramatic pauses. He was totally engrossed in himself, the glory, power and fame. Though, Zero guessed, he ought not to have been throwing stones, lest his own glass house shatter around him, even if his intentions were likely more noble than his. Still, he couldn't help but snort at the model's self absorption. He sincerely hoped that he would never become like that vampire.

Kanamé turned to glare coldly at him, looking like he was going to tell Zero off when something akin to surprise and recognition flickered in his sienna eyes.

Sienna eyes... The card for Knight Modeling...

That royal jerk back at the Café!

The recognition registered within him as he was stared down by the haughty vampire.

_-I don't want to be the one-  
-The battles always choose-  
-'Cause inside I realize-  
-That I'm the one confused-_

_-I don't know what's worth fighting for-  
-Or why I have to scream-  
-I don't know why I instigate-  
-And say what I don't mean-_

_-I don't know how I got this way-  
-I know it's not alright--  
_

Zero jumped as his phone vibrated in his pocket, his brother's ringtone sounding off, Chester's gritty, half-screaming lyrics cutting over the murmurs of the crowd. He flushed slightly, feeling rude for not turning off his phone. The model jerk on the catwalk turned to him, crossing his arms and looking down his nose at the silver haired youth, quirking a brow as if interested in his actions. He turned away slightly, ignoring him for the time being so he could answer his phone.

"Hello?"

_"Hey, Zero, I know that you're at the auditions right now, but I have something really important to tell you."_

Ichiru sounded hesitant, apologetic, off. Zero's brow furrowed, wondering what the hell was so important to bother him at a time like this.

"I'm waiting."

The jerk's, Kanamé's? Face contorted into a livid expression, probably pissed at being ignored. Tough crap, when his brother called, he answered, even if they were fighting. he was beginning to think that his constant open availability to his twin was the reason as to why Ichiru was having a hard time dealing with separation anxiety.

_"Well, you remember how I was against you being a model before today? I just remembered something that I think you should know, so you can explain in case the situation comes up if you book an interview. See, I kinda sabotaged your pictures for your modeling profile. I'm really, really sorry! I thought that they wouldn't want to sign a contract with someone who took nud-"_

Kanamé reached down and shut his phone, an impatient grin on his features as he pulled Zero up by his shirt onto the catwalk with him, addressing the audience.

**"If I'm not mistaken, this young man has had modeling experience before. Remember his face, ladies and gents, as he'll be assisting me in the elimination process and, as an official representative of Knight Modeling, his first responsibility will be shaving down you five hundred something hopefuls into fifty callbacks."**

Zero became genuinely confused for a moment, his complaint dying on his tongue. Him? An official representative of Knight Modeling? Was this jerk so powerful that he could make such a decision on his own, or did he have other motives?

"Ruka, time to work." Kaname muttered into his lapel, the command routing elsewhere other than the speakers.

Off in the distance, the two could swear that they heard another shutter clicking, less obnoxious than the ones over the speakers. A replacement photo didn't appear on the screens at the beginning of the catwalk, which Zero hadn't realized that he was being dragged to by the wrist in an uncomfortable, demanding grip. He and Kanamé disappeared stage left, leaving the crowd and lights behind.

_"ღ*~+~*ღ"_

The two arrived into the soundproofed, compressed hair and makeup department backstage. Upon seeing Kanamé storming past, the casual atmosphere disappeared, personnel hurrying to busy themselves with some sort of menial task, which was most likely their way of giving the vampire his space and privacy. Kaname led Zero to the changing area in the very back, denoted by a vast array of costumes on clothing racks. Any sounds of their conversation would be softened and absorbed by the surrounding cloth, nearly ensuring their privacy.

What the hell had possessed Kaname to do that? Didn't he often refuse to share the spotlight with any other model? Now he was bringing this spineless kid up on stage with him, just on a whim? Okay, so he had guts for ignoring him, but without a spine, they would fall out. There was going to be hell to pay for someone, so why not take it out on the cause?

"Well this is quite the surprise, who knew that someone like you would want to model? Or could you just not get enough of me?" he leered, livid about the ruined appearance he had just made.

Models were like movie stars in Astale and the surrounding cities. No doubt that he would be on the cover of every tabloid for his garish decision. Kaname looked over the teen's face, noting his change in appearance, looks and demeanor different from back within the walls of the Café.

"Excuse me?" Zero's brows furrowed in confusion. "With a bad attitude like yours, I'm surprised that you even became something in this industry. Yeah, the modeling world isn't all that friendly of a place, but with your absolute lack of grace and highhanded sense of self importance, I'm beginning to think that I would be better off looking for a contract with Latreia Posé."

Zero wasn't at all impressed with the vampire standing before him. This wasn't going to be a repeat performance from PePuri Café. Outside of those walls he didn't have to be subservient to this jerk. Modeling was his dream, and he would do whatever it took, but if there was another option, he would take it. He's rather not be around someone so disgustingly rude, so pitifully self-absorbed...

So distractingly hot.

What was so bad about him again? Focus! Jerk, rudeness, the guy needed a reality check, but those unrealistic paychecks were probably offsetting any aspects of true reality, warping his mind into something so self centered that he didn't consider himself the sun of his own little galaxy, but the God of his very own universe.

Where the hell did he get off?

Kaname just stared at him, unsure as to whether he was shocked or irate. Had he just been spurned? Him? Kaname Kuran?_ Kanamé?_ No one ever said no to him, and he was going to pay dearly for the little slip up. On the other hand, Kaname was impressed, though unwilling to admit it. The kid was hiding more guts than he thought. Perhaps he would do a spinal tap, just to check if he was hiding one of those as well.

The two stared at each other for a long moment, each lost in his own thoughts, which were surprisingly similar. They looked over the other person's hair, and face, and sense of style, unconsciously moving closer together.

Until a shutter clicked for the umpteenth time that day.

"I'm afraid you won't have any luck there, Kiryuu-kun."

The two turned, startled to find Kaien snapping pictures of them, slowly gravitating towards each other. Zero felt a tug at the corner of his mouth as he looked over the bespectacled man, wondering who he was to know his name.

"Not now Kaien." Kaname frowned at the photographer, cursing his bad timing. "I'm in the middle of a private conversation."

"What's the point in a private conversation if you don't turn off your mic?"

Kaname paled at the thought of defamation in front of the fledglings.

"Oh don't worry, we cut the sound once you disappeared, although I'm surprised that you brought him," he nodded to Zero. "On stage with you. Have you two met before, or is this another one of your games?" Kaien raised a brow at the pureblood, the two exchanging a look that Zero couldn't read.

"Wait, what do you mean that I won't have any luck there?" Zero asked, suddenly becoming worried. "Are you saying that I'm not good enough?"

This surprised Kaien.

"Oh no, not at all! It's just that they won't sign anyone who already had a contract with another agency."

"But I don't belong to an agency right now." Zero's brows furrowed in confusion.

"What are you saying?" Kaname asked, certain that he knew what the photographer was up to."

"Does that mean that you don't want to model with us?" Kaien pouted, thumbing through a small three ring binder of snapshots before pulling out a thin stack of documents, the top sheet being a contract. "Your photos were amazing. No one else had the gall to post what you did in your profile album. You know, you remind me of when Kaname was young." he chuckled, handing the binder to Zero.

_"...I kinda sabotaged your pictures..."_

Ichiru's words came back to him, filling him with dread as he thumbed through his portfolio. The pictures were normal, no alterations. His tension loosened as he saw the familiar abstract pieces he had done, cold fear choking him when he got to the last pages.

Zero hadn't taken any of those photographs, not that he had remembered. That's when the truth occurred to him-

Ichiru took these nude pictures, of himself.

The first photo of his twin was against a white backdrop, shadows prominent and contrasting along his skin. His left leg was curled close to himself, cheek resting against his knee, arm wrapping around the leg. His other leg was folded back at his side, right arm reaching down to stroke himself, fully erect before the camera. His eyes were squint as he bit his lip, brows furrowed, seemingly caught in a personal moment, cheeks tinged red in faux embarrassment.

Zero stared in horror at the picture, mechanically flipping through the last two pages, finding a picture, sexual in nature that _was_ of him, though he hadn't taken it, or authorized it to be taken. He ran his fingers over the familiar photograph, a wave of memories crashing over him.

It was from back when he was still living at home with his parents and brother. The snapshot was from the middle of last year, when Ichiru and him had broken their bunk bed while wrestling on the top mattress over some stupid argument. Zero had wanted his own room, which their parents supported, much to Ichiru's disdain. The bunk beds were replaced with a single king-size mattress without a box frame. Zero remembered that event well, since it was his incentive for moving out, and also the day he had decided that he wanted to be a model.

That morning of June ninth was their seventeenth birthday. It was a Monday, so they had to work. Their parents throwing them a celebration the day before, bestowing Zero with a high-powered Aloé camera, like the ones that Latreia Posé photographers used, even if Knight Modeling was arguably better, Aloé was more readily available. Ichiru received a disc with photoshop and a customized laptop, since their parents knew he would want to be included in on any of Zero's activities. On that morning Ichiru insisted on clocking in two hours earlier than him, still upset because of their fight over him moving out.

Whenever Zero got frustrated, he was easier to arouse, and during that time he had found himself masturbating more frequently, trying to relieve tension. That morning, when he thought his brother had disappeared downstairs, he had stripped in bed, intending to use the two hours alone prior to the beginning of his shift to work himself into full orgasm as many times as possible.

Ichiru had, out of his own frustration, taken the photograph when he came back upstairs to wake him for his shift and apologize for being a brat. Apparently he thought it would have been more fun to take blackmail photos than grow up.

The lilac sheets were twisted around his bare legs, back arched, body half turned towards the camera at an angle as his face contorted into an erotic expression, cheeks aflame, sweat pouring down his skin, hair slicked with it, lips parted with his pink tongue protruding to lick the top one, eyes heavily lidded as they stared at the lens, begging to be taken. This moment was definitely more personal than the 'candid' one Ichiru had faked, right down to the open issue of Kaldia laying next to his pillow, a provocative brunette touching himself next to text that read 'Fourteen Ways to Please'.

When Zero had finally pulled the camera out of his twin's grip, he noticed how great the shot was, how hot he was with his hair dampened against his pale skin. He had erased the single picture, probably not realizing that more than one frame was taken.

That picture didn't tell the whole story though. It only showed a moment of mindless self-indulgence. What it didn't show was the fact that it _was_ a personal photo, not a pose, or the anger that Zero had felt from it being taken, or the sound ass-beating his twin had gone through, or even his embarrassment at the discovery of the ambiguous part of his sexual orientation. Was Ichiru so against him being a model that he would post the blackmail online for everyone to see? Zero was pissed, but most of all, he was hurt that his brother would do something so cruel.

Somewhere in the middle of his reverie, Kaname had snatched the binder from his hands, flipping through the pictures one by one. He raised a brow at Ichiru's nude picture, sensing the insincerity and ulterior motives behind his expression, but when he got to the final one, of Zero twisted in the sheets, Kaname's stare matched Zero's erection - long and hard.

He recognized that issue of Kaldia...

The gears slowly started turning in his mind. This kid was, gorgeous, especially for a human, which made it a rare thing. Not to mention, he was _fully equipped_ for the job. He would use this silver-haired youth to open doorways that had once been denied to him before--Kaien had a very healthy interest in him, and so would the rest of the modeling world. it was rare that human models got signed in today's society, but if his humanity became a hindrance, then he could always take care of that. Kaname's mouth watered in anticipation...

"Kiryuu-kun? Are you rejecting our proposal?"

Kaien's voice brought Zero and Kaname back to the present. He looked up to the photographer, eying the contract in his hands. Kaname rested his hands on Zero's shoulders, smirking triumphantly.

"Of course he accepts! I'll even take the little fledgling under my wing."

Zero looked like he had been struck with a bat, flinching away from the vampire's touch. Kaien wore a similar, yet less extreme expression, suspicious of his true intentions.

"Then you can train him with Yagari-san."

"It's a displeasure to meet you, drowned rat."

The raven haired model approached the group, looking utterly bored as he sighed out a stream of smoke. Kaien once again outed his cigarette, earning another irritated glare from the man.

"Are all the models in this company a bunch of stuck up assholes, or just them?" Zero asked Kaien as he frowned at the other men.

Kaname snorted in amusement.

"Don't be like that, I obviously hold some sort of appeal to you, since you've been jerking off to my photos for quite a while now."

Zero's brows furrowed, heart skipping a beat.

"Since when?! Not to someone like you!" he demanded.

"Oh?" came the condescending challenge. "Then explain this."

He pointed at the last photograph of Zero, finger jabbing the air in front of the magazine next to him. The silver-haired youth squinted slightly, examining the naughty expression on the brunette's face. He looked back and forth between the picture and the real thing, eyes widening when he made the connection, finding the smaller text on the magazine that spelled out the vampire's name.

Kaname knew he had Zero by the balls.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

**A/N: **Once again, sorry about being so late!**  
**

**Reviews:** Tell me what you think? Please and thank you, I would love you forever.


	4. Mistaken

**A/N:** Wow, this has had a lot of cooking involvement. O_O Oh well. For some reason I always summarize only the beginning and parts of the middle. =_= Oh well, drama's a comin', but probably not for a couple or few chapters. you may have already suspected it, but I am in love with this letter - é.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own L'espoir. The lyrics and song belong to the beautiful cellist/songstress Kanon Wakeshima.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

Ichiru was going to have hell to pay.

Not only could those pictures have ruined his chances at a modeling career, but they could also have destroyed what little reputation and credibility he possessed outside of his sheltered home life. Worse than that, were if his parents were to find out about them, they wouldn't cut him off, but it was likely that they would do something that would eventually limit his freedom and their relationship. Zero swore that his brother could be so childish at times! Still, he supposed that he was partially to blame.

Trudging through the caramel colored lobby of PePuri Café, Zero cast tired smiles at patrons as he turned into the stairwell leading into the upper loft.

"Zero, honey, you look like hell." his mother commented in passing, brushing the back of her hand across his forehead. "Is everything alright? How did the scouting audition go?"

"I'm the only one who got a contract so far." he sighed.

"That's wonderful!" she beamed before noticing his grave expression. "That's wonderful, right?" her tone lowered considerably, as if she were ready to kick the ass of whatever it was upsetting her son.

"Yes it is, mother. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to visit with my dear brother and deliver the good news." Zero said flatly.

Hikari recognized that tone.

"Oh gosh, what did he do now?"

"Nothing to worry yourself over. He helped to get me signed, so I won't be becoming an only child just yet."

"Another individuality issue?" she frowned. "I knew we should have been more strict with him."

"It seems like everyone's soft on him..." Zero muttered, parting from his mother and continuing up the staircase.

His brother sat, back turned to him, typing up a document on the family desktop. A few of his University applications were scattered along the dark coffee table and mint-colored couch. It looked like mom had changed the furniture theme again--this time to an Earth-based theme, that or mint chocolates.

His concentrated click-clacking on the keyboard drowned out any noise he would have made upon approach. Zero utilized his hunting skills, which were taught to both he and his brother as declared by family tradition since they were young, to stalk closer, coming up right behind his twins ear and took a deep, silent breath.

**"ICHIRU!"**

The sound of shattering china reached them upstairs. His mother would probably scold him later for scaring her, but he didn't care.

"Nii-san!" Ichiru yelped, falling off his chair, staggering back into the sofa. "I had no idea that you were back yet! Er, you just hung up on me like that, how did the auditions go?"

"Tadaima," he growled through clenched teeth. "What the hell were you thinking?"

"Zero, ah, what's past is past, remember what I said this morning? I support you, one hundred percent! I'm behind you all the way onii-chan, you can always try another agency!"

"Don't give me that cutesy act! Oh I got signed, but I was so embarrassed I only signed the main papers before telling them I had to get back to work. they looked at me like I was nuts, and now I have a ton of paperwork for tomorrow! You're going to be in worse trouble than when you took that picture of me! Do you have any idea how that could have affected my future? Do you have any idea how that can still affect my future? They have copies Ichiru! And what about you? Obviously, you didn't quite think that one through, because we look alike! That means this applies to you too!"

"None of that would matter if you got into modeling for those sleaze magazines." Ichiru started to laugh, mirth disappearing when he noticed that he couldn't joke his way out of this one.

Then he would have to spring to his last resort.

"Dad sent you an email today!" his voice was high pitched, pleading.

"Oh, and have you been going through my things on top of that?" Zero hissed, making his twin flinch.

"No, I know because he sent me and mom one, so you should already have one in your inbox."

Zero so dearly wanted to pummel his brother into the ground right then, but he was really eager to read whatever his father might have sent him. He was away in France at the moment, studying under culinary geniuses so they could open a five star restaurant at a hotel in Astale, adding to their little Café.

Food was definitely the family business secondary only to hunting, but now that it was an obsolete pastime, something that the current generations were only trained for, it became the main source of income for the Kiryuu family. While Zero was talented at cooking, he couldn't see it as anything other than a mere hobby, well, maybe stress relief. German chocolate cake was what saved his brother from sound ass beatings now-a-days, and he had a feeling he would be whipping up at least half a dozen of them today.

"Until you see at least six cakes sitting on display in the Café, do _not_ talk to me." Zero warned, stomping over to the family computer to check his email, leaving Ichiru to scramble downstairs while he still had the chance.

He closed out whatever Ichiru had been working on, including those angsty poems he had on Microsoft Word, oops, and logged onto his profile, sighing with relief when he noticed that Ichiru hadn't cracked his latest password and changed his desktop background just to annoy him. Opening Firefox, Zero signed into his Yahoo! account.

Yahoo! ID:

**zero0kiryuu at yahoo dot com**

Password:

****************

Sure enough, Ichiru was right. In his inbox were a few unread messages, all of them but one from different online clothing stores. He clicked on the message from his father, and was greeted with a beautiful picture of a patisserie nestled between a pair of clothing boutiques, the cakes in that shop window far outshining any of the extravagant clothes in the other stores.

Paris Fashion was never his sweet spot in the first place...

**Zero! I can't believe it's already been a month since we've all been together as a family. Time sure as hell flies when you're having fun with learning. Of course, as always, I miss you guys too. You and Ichiru are getting along, right? By the way, I remembered that by the time you would be reading this, you'll probably have already gone through auditions for that modeling place. How did it go? You're gonna make your mom and dad a bunch of money, right? Just kidding.**

**Your mom tells me that German chocolate cake hasn't been baked in a few weeks at the Café****. I hope this means that you and Ichiru are coming to terms with your moving out. I've tried to explain it to him in a baker's dozen worth of different ways (haha, baker's dozen, because we're a culinary family, get it?) that you aren't abandoning him, but no matter what, he still thinks of it that way. You should probably tell him that yourself, that way he and I can have an actual conversation about more than just you. Lol. Ah, I probably sound like a terrible father for that, but, as always, I'll let you guys be the judge of that one.**

**Oh, before I forget, that little pastry shop I took a picture of is the most famous one in all of Paris. They do it all, from scratch - fondant, royal icing decorations, pastillage, gum paste,** **meringue icing**,** normal icing, - you name it, they can do it. The designs are amazing I tell you, and I know that you would love learning a thing or two from the pros. Baking and decorating always was your strongest point.**

**You're my cute son, and I'm not saying this to put any other aspect of your life down and whatnot, but I honestly think that you would do better in a culinary profession instead of something like modeling. Your looks won't last forever, but no one will be able to take away your skill of knowing how to cook. However, that reason is precisely why I'm perfectly fine with you going out for modeling, because you'll always have your natural talents to fall back on.**

**Well, I've lectured you enough for one email. Message you later!**

**Love, Dad**

"You jinxed it dad." Zero sighed, scrolling back up to take a closer look at the patisserie.

There were silhouettes of cars and other people passing by on the street in the reflection of the window. Beyond the glass and display, beyond the extremely fancy, brightly colored cakes, the shop was filled with people, all of them smiling fondly. Zero knew what the chefs must have been feeling, if they were in it for more than just money. He could relate to the sheer pleasure any chef, or anyone who knew how to cook for that matter, received when they watched people enjoying their creations. The design and outer beauty could only get a cake so far when it was intended to be eaten. What counted the most was the flavor inside, the texture, and compared to that, decoration would win second place every time.

Zero smiled in spite of his angry mood, even after he realized that his father had really sent him the picture, not only to show him the lovely designs in the shop window, but to make him look beyond to the happiness that cooking brought to the people who partook in the tasting of the cakes themselves. He was wiser than Zero thought, but that still wouldn't deter him from his dream. The silver-haired youth typed out his reply, fingers flying across the keyboard.

**You want my dream to dry up, like a raisin in the sun. D= What kind of father are you? No, I'm only kidding. You happen to be a damn good father, even if you guys do spoil Ichiru too much. When are you gonna throw some of that my way? Again, kidding on that last bit. **

**I got signed, actually. And if I were to make a lot, of course I would share it with my family. I'm not some sort of prick who would waste it on frivolous things. You and mom could open your own chain of restaurants, and Ichiru would have enough funds to be able to do whatever he dreams up for his life.**

**Actually, with this letter, you have jinxed my cake-less streak - I've just finished telling Ichiru not to talk to me until I've baked six cakes. It's nothing to worry about, really, just a little misunderstanding. In fact, I think it'll be straightened out before the end of the day, and both of your sons will live. Maybe.**

**Ichiru sort of has, and dad, you're a dork.**

**Really, it all looks amazing, but I know what you're trying to do, and you're right about that last paragraph. Thanks for supporting me even if you don't completely agree. Who knows? I mean, baking is my hobby, maybe one day I'll make designer pastries.**

**Take a picture of the Eiffel Tower too, will you? You're amateur shots are amazing.**

**Love, Zero  
**

"Nice try." he laughed, sending the email before shutting down the computer.

Stepping into his twin's room, Zero rooted through his clothes drawers, annoyed by how Ichiru didn't bother to fold any of his clothes. He stole one of his old white t-shirts and worn jeans, singing a song two octaves lower than the original tune as he changed.

_"-Hontou wa kotoba de fuan na-  
-Kokoro kakushi teru-  
-Sunao ni koisuru watashi ni-  
-Kae te hoshii-"_

After discarding his nice clothes into a hamper in the bathroom, he descended the stairs, popping his fingers in preparation for tedious work.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"Ah, I should have gotten him to fill out the personal survey before he left." Kaien hummed, thumbing through Zero's paperwork. "We only have his cell phone number and home address, but he said he was going back to work."

"Let me see that." Kaname said, snatching the papers from Kaien.

The pureblood flipped through them with one hand, towel drying his now solid-brunette hair, which had been stripped of all pink and re-dyed a dark mahogany. He had changed into a casual aqua and white graphic tee, jeans, and similarly colored flip flops, all designer.

He noticed that a few of the documents were different from the ones he had signed when the was first scouted a few years ago. He and Kaien sat in the photographer's desk in his large, glass office on the tenth floor, Yagari joined them, disjointedly, lounging in a dark winged armchair in front of a plasma screen. He flipped through the channels with disinterest, listening to Kaname and Kaien converse.

"I can fill out some of this." Kaname laughed, taking a pen to his right hand. "Let's see... Name... Kiryuu, what the hell is his first name?" he rubbed his foot against the pale, eggshell colored carpet in thought.

"You mean to say that you two were acting all chummy and you didn't even know his name?" Touga asked from the armchair, throwing his head back to clear his eyes of hair.

"It won't be important once he gets a stage name." the pureblood waved a hand in dismissal. "Details details... Now, Work - PePuri Café. Eye color - Lilac Spring. Hair color - Silver Rain. Height," he stood, holding his hand out flat in front of his face, trying to compare the teen to himself. "One eighty one centimeters, or five eleven."

"You had time to measure him and find out where he works, but you don't know his name." Touga stated with a harsh laugh.

"Since when has learning anyone's name been that high on your priority list, Yagari?" Kaname asked, giving him a pointed look, which shut him up immediately, making the raven-haired model turn back to some soap opera he wasn't even interested in.

"How _do_ you know that Kaname-kun?" Kaien inquired, looking up from his laptop.

"I ran into him this morning at that Café place." he said, scrutinizing a single question on the paper. "Hey, when this asks for all measurements, do you mean _all_ measurements, or just the ones for clothes? Because I have a rough estimate of another one, but I'll have to do more 'research' before I can confirm or deny anything."

"Well, since you seem so interested in him, you can go and get the rest of the information for yourself." Kaien mused, eying Kaname with interest. "And tell him to come back tomorrow at ten am so we can do his first photo shoot."

"I suppose." the brunette sighed, gathering the papers into a neat pile, tapping them on the desk to make them even before slipping them back inside the binder. "Where are the five hundred fledgling profiles? He'll have to eliminate all but fifty before tomorrow at noon."

"You stuck him with that task?!" Kaien exclaimed in surprise. "That was supposed to be your responsibility, it's your line that they're modeling for, after all."

"I already have my picks." he rolled his eyes. "I just want to see if he'd be worth more than a pretty face to me. What better way to do that than making him akin to my personal secretary?"

"Secretary? Sounds like slavery to me. I'd hate to be one of the models under your command." Kaien shivered, feeling sorry for Zero as he passed Kaname a thumb drive with all of the modeling information.

"That's because you're naturally dominant." Kaname snickered, tucking the information away into the pocket of his destroyed, Néi brand skinny jeans.

"Not all the time." Yagari called, reaching for a pack of Veedua lights, Kaien rising from his chair to stop him.

"Oh no you don't! I told you to stop smoking and you still carry those around with you?"

The sounds of their argument faded as Kaname stepped beyond the glass door towards the elevator, heading out to meet with that kid again, his eyes set to kill in a mischievous way.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

_"-Ce piege que je t'ai tendu,-  
-Ce fil de couleur cerise,-  
-Tombe dedans, esclavé__ de mon amour-  
-Tu ne peux pas y echapper.-"_

"Stick to your day jobs, Zero." Ichiru mused, standing in the door frame to the kitchen in the back of the Café.

"Ichiru, do you see half a dozen cakes out there, or do you have a death wish?" Zero growled under his breath between clenched teeth, turning up the radio.

"You're not going to do anything while we're down here, especially when you're decorating." Ichiru yawned. "It's the loft I have to be weary of, that's where you really cut loose when you're pissed." he shrugged, sitting down on a stool at the white tile island, opposite his brother.

Couldn't his twin see he was in mid-creation? The sweet scent of caramel, chocolate and toasted coconut escaped through the singing door, gaining quite a few 'mmmm's' and inquiries to their mother about the cakes. Zero tried to ignore all of it, focusing instead on piping the widely-spaced, chocolate latticework around the cake's circumference over the already iced sides. He was debating as to whether he should add the coconut and caramel to every diamond, or every other diamond when Ichiru's hand caught his eye, dipping into the chocolate icing.

"I hope you washed your hands." Zero snapped with a glare, losing patience with the teen.

Ichiru only rolled his eyes, bringing the finger to his lips, tasting the dark sugary paste.

"A chef's hands are always clean. You put too much chocolate in it, by the way." he said, dipping his finger once more.

Zero caught his wrist, pulling him forward to sample the chocolate for himself.

"It's supposed to have a strong chocolate taste, which is why I'm only using it for latticework." he shrugged, mixing the bowl of icing again to keep it from crusting, and also ensuring that the cocoa powder was evenly distributed within the solution.

"As long as the customers like it." Ichiru shrugged back, turning away and averting his eyes.

How long was the pouting going to last this time? Zero straightened up, sighing in defeat as he gestured to the cakes. He guessed that he would have to be the bigger man in the argument, again.

"I'm halfway done with decoration on this one. There are two more on the cooling racks, and another two in the ovens still. If you want," he noticed Ichiru perking up at the offer he knew was about to take place. "you can check if either of them are cooled and help me with the rest."

"If you insist! What would you do without me nii-san?" he laughed, jumping up to run to the cooling racks.

"Probably be a hell of a lot more sane." Zero muttered lifting a brow with an endearing smile. "You're still not off the hook, otouto." from the corner of his eye, he could see Ichiru stiffening in fear, just for a moment, sending a secret surge of satisfaction through him.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Kaname pressed on the gas pedal, making the engine of his prized, cherry-red Lamborghini snarl in anticipation. He looked to the black and gold bull emblem on the steering wheel, hunching down to chuff on the cold metal, bringing his sleeve to wipe at the foggy condensation. With a smirk, Kaname grasped the black-handled gear shift, putting the sports car into drive before pealing out of the parking garage, engine roaring, tires squealing against asphalt.

It was a straight shot down the street. There were six city blocks, or half a mile, which was four fifths of a kilometer, between them. He pulled into the nearest parking garage, in the middle of a wide empty gap on the first level, and got out to walk back to the Café, carrying the three ring binder of Kiryuu's photographs and his contract with him.

Honks and stared trailed after the pureblood as he pounded the pavement, suppressing the urge to open the binder back up and stare at that final picture. Kaname promised himself that he would commit it to memory on his own, and possibly take Kiryuu that way. He would grasp the teens shoulders, thread his fingers through that fine silver hair, and dominate that cheeky little human, in every position known to man, and several known to vampires.

He would break Kiryuu.

The very thought made Kaname excited. He licked his lips, ears pricking to several muted, feminine squeals. With a fake smile, the pureblood opened the door to PePuri Café, the high pitched bell alerting the patrons and workers alike to his arrival.

In the realm of humans, Kaname had to be careful to make noise, his steps automatically falling heavier than he normally would have walked, flip flops making a soft, plip plopping noise whenever they left his heel. It was annoying and inconvenient, but he had grown used to it. Humans were an insensitive bunch, unable to feel the presence of vampires, barely their own kind. The only warning signal was the rising hairs on the backs of their necks, but society had become so integrated that even that simple warning became uncommon.

At least he didn't have to go out of his way to be courteous at the agency. In fact, he enjoyed scaring the staffs. The only people whom were still sensitive to their presence were -

"Hello, welcome to PePuri Cafe."

Hunters.

A keen pair of orchid eyes met his from behind the counter, studying him, silently confirming her suspicions as she saw the way the light hit his eyes, brightening them to a slightly more luminous shade of sienna, an adaptation found only in vampires to attract their prey.

"Hello miss...?"

"Hikari." she replied tersely, entire body relaxed save for her left hand, which grasped a silver paring knife, blade buried within an apple.

Even through the fruit hid the serrated edge, Kaname could feel the thrum of power from the object. The silver was very special, having been charmed with anti-vampire capabilities. He looked Hikari over for a fleeting moment, taking in her high cheekbones and pale complexion beneath her silver hair, bangs long, body tied into a tight ponytail that rested over her shoulder in a short and straight spray. Now Kaname knew where Zero got his good looks from, and his similarly spicy scent.

"Miss Hikari." he gave a friendly smile. "I'm here on behalf of Knight Modeling, is Kiryuu-kun still working?"

"He's in the back." recognition sparked within her, but she remained relaxed. "You're welcome to see him, though he's busy baking."

"Baking?" Kaname asked, brow raising in amusement.

"That's right, my son makes the best cakes in the region." she smiled in challenge.

"Then you're lucky to have such a talented young man for a son. In the back you say?" he asked, though he hadn't forgotten, using the question to make an effective exit. "Thank you." he smiled, slowly moving behind the counter, feeling her eyes follow him.

Hikari didn't look like a person to be messed with. Kiryuu's family was proving to be fun.

The sweet scents of baking chocolate and frosting hit Kaname hard. Whatever the hell kind of confection it was, his sweet tooth ached for a piece of it. The smell may have dulled his senses a bit, since the teen before him smelled much more bland than earlier today, but there was no doubt that it was him. Kaname furrowed his brow, trying to shrug off the weird disquiet that nibbled at the corners of his mind. Those damn hunter's blades... Even if they couldn't mortally wound him, they would still be effective in slowing him down.

Kiryuu, Kaname still hadn't learned his first name yet, was bent over the pale island counter top in the back kitchen. He still hadn't noticed the vampire behind him, instead concentrating on piping curving lines of pink along a stiff, flawless layer of chocolate icing, cursing under his breath when he made a mistake, bringing his fingers up to wipe at the glob. Kaname joined him, mimicking his position next to the oblivious teen.

_"Making me desserts? But we haven't even had dinner yet, not that I mind."_ he whispered huskily into his ear.

He jumped, shoving the metal icing tip into the cake, making a sound of frustration as he turned to tell off the intruder, but instead stopped, nearly speechless.

"Kanamé Kuran?" Kiryuu asked, blinking up at the pureblood.

"Miss me?" he smirked, eyes flitting over the burgundy polo and bleached jeans that hugged his frame.

The pureblood noticed that the silver Celtic ear cuff and hook that he wore to the audition had been removed, probably by the request of his strict-looking mother. it was a shame really, though he hadn't said a thing, Kaname actually liked them.

"Who else were you expecting?" he scoffed, as if no one else could compare.

"You're Kanamé Kuran..." he whispered.

Was he fucking retarded or something? Maybe it was the Café that made him stupid, otherwise he wouldn't have been in awe of the obvious glory that he was.

Why was he complaining about that?

"My name or your throat, we'll see which one is worn out after hours of screaming it." Kaname murmured, bringing a finger up to stroke at the shell of his left ear.

Kiryuu's face flushed ever so slightly before realization hit, then his attitude changed.

"What do you want?" he glared, batting the pureblood's hand away from him and removing his plastic gloves, massaging the reddened skin at the junction of his thumb and forefinger.

"Touchy touchy!" he snickered, looking into his lilac eyes. "I just came to give you these sheets to fill out, since you left in such a rush. You can flip through these high res copies we made of your photos and decide which one you want to represent as your first amateur shots. Also, don't forget to flip through all of the data profiles on here," he shoved the binder into his chest and pressed a thumb drive into his palm. "and choose fifty callbacks. Your first photo shoot is tomorrow at ten, and come without makeup. Any questions?"

Kiryuu raised a brow at that, setting the binder down to flip through contract packets, stopping at a thin one in particular, a single sheet that said 'Amateur Photo Preferences'. Scanning the document, he turned to Kaname, pointing to the title.

"Is this the only document that I'll need the portfolio for?" he asked, avoiding the pureblood's eyes.

"It's the only reason I brought it. You can keep it here if you like, but who's really that vain to want to keep so many pictures of himself around?" Kaname scoffed.

"Um, yeah, hold on a second." Kiryuu sighed, walking over to the business phone on the side counter to retrieve a pen from the notepad. "What's this part? Will it get Zero more work?"

"Oh is that your name?" Kaname asked, brows knitting. "Referring to yourself in the third person? You're haughtier than I thought." he chuckled in amusement. "Of course it will."

His blank face finally twisted into a tight-lipped smile.

"Yeah, that's my name, it's an honor to meet you."

"It'll be my honor to meat you." the pureblood responded, eyes narrowing upon his intended prey, feeling as if he had to work much harder than last time to get a reaction out of him.

He could tell Zero pretended no to hear the the innuendo. He did not lean into Kaname as he had earlier, at the agency. The youth muttered something unintelligible beneath his breath, skimming the contract. He chose two pictures, from the binder, writing their numbers in their respective blanks before handing the portfolio back to him.

"I'm busy, so could you leave for today? I'll have the papers to you by tomorrow." Zero said, still avoiding eye contact as he put on a fresh pair of gloves, picking up his icing bag and twisting the end.

How rude! Ugh, that kid was lucky that his first official day at their agency was tomorrow, otherwise he would have been black marked already. The pureblood left him behind, trying not to feel shaken at the lack of attention he was paid.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Though he had never particularly liked cake decorating, Ichiru still thought it was fun to take up as a hobby. He dipped an icing spatula into some pale pink icing, loading as much as he could into the bag before twisting the end shut.

"Don't fill it all the way, you'll have frosting coming out of the end and it'll be harder for you to get good control on your grip." Zero said, taking the bag from his brother, squeezing out some of the excess icing. "You did put in a number ten tip, right?" he asked, checking the end before nodding.

"Relax, I'm not going to wreck the cake." Ichiru waved.

"I hope not, otherwise we won't be decorating together again any time soon."

Ichiru rolled his eyes, holding the bag up to the cake.

"Make sure you hold it perpendicular, not at an angle, and use your pointer to guide the tip."

With an irritated glance, Ichiru shot some icing in his brother's face, laughing merrily at his irritated expression.

"You're the one who asked me to teach you a new technique."

"I've seen you do it a thousand times, relax, I'm pretty good at piping, I'll do the stem work first and then ask for your help when I start on the flowers." he laughed, wiping up a spot his brother missed, tasting the sweet pink buttercream.

"If you insist." Zero sighed. "I'll be in the back mixing up more icing, checking on the cakes, choosing different brushed for you to use, and taking out the trash, that mom told you to do this morning." he eyed his twin with a frown.

"Heh, um, love you nii-san!"

"You better." Zero grumbled, disappearing through the swinging door to the other side of the kitchen.

Turning back to the chocolate cake, Ichiru started to pipe out a few lines along the base, which would be covered later, trying to get used to controlling his tip.

_"Making me desserts? But we haven't even had dinner yet, not that I mind."_

He jumped, shoving the metal icing tip into the cake, grunting in frustration. Great! now Zero was going to scold him for being reckless. Not that he really cared about getting lectured, he just didn't like disappointing his brother.

Oh well. It was something that could easily be fixed. he wouldn't catch too much hell for such a small hole. He could probably patch it up with the rest of the decoration. As he turned to tell off the intruder Ichiru stopped, rendered nearly speechless. It couldn't be that guy that Zero was masturbating to in the magazine, could it?

"Kanamé Kuran?" Kiryuu asked, blinking up at the pureblood.

"Miss me?" he smirked, eyes openly studying his form. "Who else were you expecting?" he scoffed haughtily.

"You're Kanamé Kuran..." he whispered, half of himself wanting to hit him, the other half wanting to hug him as he wondered what the hell he was talking about.

"My name or your throat, we'll see which one is worn out after hours of screaming it." Kaname murmured, touching the edge of Ichiru's ear.

What a bastard! What a haughty asshole! Ichiru was leaning heavily towards the option of hitting him.

"What do you want?" he glared, batting the pureblood's hand away, removing his gloves and massaging his joints, lest he needed to hit the jerk for getting too familiar.

"Touchy touchy!" he snickered, sienna eyes boring into his, making Ichiru feel uncomfortable. "I just came to give you these sheets to fill out..."

Ichiru faded in and out of his ramblings, only paying attention when a binder and thumb drive were shoved at him. He raised a brow at that, setting the binder down to flip through packets and pictures, stopping at a thin one in particular, a single sheet that said 'Amateur Photo Preferences'. Scanning the document, he turned to Kaname, pointing to the title.

"Is this the only document that I'll need the portfolio for?" he asked, avoiding the model's eyes.

"It's the only reason I brought it. You can keep it here if you like, but who's really that vain to want to keep so many pictures of himself around?" Kaname scoffed.

'Probably you!' was something that he burned to say, but he thought better of raising his voice. what should he have done? gotten Zero or sing them in his stead? He was pretty busy at the moment, and he didn't need any more stress.

"Um, yeah, hold on a second." he sighed, deciding to help his brother out, skimming over a particular paragraph entitled 'Adult' "What's this part? Will it get Zero more work?"

"Oh is that your name?" Kaname asked, brows knitting. "Referring to yourself in the third person? You're haughtier than I thought." he chuckled in amusement. "Of course it will."

This idiot, he didn't think that Ichiru was his brother, did he? Pfft, maybe, models were stupid after all, all looks and no substance, right? What harm could he do by messing with the idiot?

"Yeah, that's my name, it's an honor to meet you." he almost choked on the last words, trying not to even let it show in his body language that he was trying to keep from laughing.

"It'll be my honor to meet you." his eyes narrowed.

Oh, this one was a genius alright. Ichiru ignored the comment.

_"Fucktard."_ he muttered under his breath.

He wrote the number of his favorite headshot in the 'General' section, penning the number for Zero's masturbation picture in the 'Adult' section, since it was a bit risqué for the kids. Growing tired of his presence, Ichiru shoved the paper and binder back at the brunette, dismissing him coldly. He hoped that Zero didn't have to work with that... that...

"I thought you were piping." Zero's voice came from the swinging door as he peeked in to check on his brother. "Was there someone in here with you? i thought I heard voices."

"Yeah, these documents came for you. They look tedious though, and you must be tired, nii-san. You should stay here tonight, we still have to celebrate your getting signed." Ichiru grinned, playing it off.

"Okay?" Zero asked, reaching for the papers. "Thanks. Start piping, I'll help." he added, turning to disappear in the back room.

"Sure thing." he smiled, pocketing the thumb drive.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

**A/N:** Now I feel like drawing Zero decorating cakes, just because I really want to draw the designs.

**Reviews:** Thank you for all the reviews I've gotten so far! tell me what you think for this one? My undying love would be yours!


	5. Family

**A/N:** I noticed that I've been putting down lyrics to whatever songs help me through the writing of each chapter. I can listen to the same one a hundred times, if the chapter takes me 300 to 500 minutes to write. I'm a slow writer, and it does take me five plus hours to make a single chapter. I still look at the keyboard most of the time when I'm typing, and I type about 43wpm. When I'm thinking for a chapter, I type down an average of 8 words a minute, because I'm trying to think of what should happen next.

And compared to a lot of authors, I update quite a bit. XDX

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Sanctuary, both the song and lyrics belong to the awe inspiring Utada Hikaru. I don't own the introductory quotes for KH2 also, though I have bolded and italicized them to best match how the intro did.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

"Kanpai!"

Shot glasses were filled and toasted to Zero's success. The sound of glass clanging together made Zero feel victorious, as every one of their accomplishments, Zero's, Ichiru's or their parents, were all celebrated with a toast, though back in the day they were given apple juice instead of liquor.

"Remember boys, I'm only letting you have one glass because you both have work tomorrow morning." Hikari said, eying them both before downing her own shot of Sake.

"That's fine with me, it tastes funny." Zero said, rubbing his tongue against the roof of his mouth, the sweet, fruity flavor turning slightly bitter.

"Then you probably couldn't handle anything stronger than this. Lightweight!" Ichiru laughed, elbowing his twin in the ribs before draining his shot glass, slamming it onto the coffee table in the sitting room. "Another please!"

"And how would you know how strong anything is?" Hikari asked her son, suspicious eyes set on him.

"Mom, heh, remember Christmas when you let us try rum cake?"

"Yes, and I remember you stealing the rest so you could eat it, and got sick. I hope that's the only experience you have to compare it to."

"I'm a good kid okasan." he smiled angelically, making Zero roll his eyes.

"You're going to kill your palette." he warned. "Then who's going to take over the family business?"

"Who said I wanted to take over the Café?" Ichiru asked, reclining against the couch.

"What? No, see, one of you is going to take it over. We can't trust the Café to anyone else. One of you or both of you. Hopefully, your father and I will be around for a long time. If that's the case, then your only hope is that your children will be the ones taking it over, and it won't have to pass through your hands at all."

"Pft, I won't be having kids. They're too much trouble." Ichiru laughed. "He's not having any either because-mnhs hunn."

Zero clamped a hand down over his twin's mouth, effectively shutting him up before he could say anything stupid, or revealing.

"Ichiru, mother does not need to know about my hopeless obsession with Kanon Wakeshima." he stage whispered, effectively steering the conversation away from his sexuality.

"How could you hide that?" Hikari giggled, the alcohol keeping her from suspecting anything. "You only run around the house singing her songs like they're going out of style. Is that the reason you wanted to sign with Knight Modeling? Now your sudden change of heart makes sense." she smiled, shaking her head at her cute son.

Ichiru narrowed his eyes at Zero, mouth opening to lick at his palm--a technique he used whenever he wanted Zero to back off so he could speak. It usually worked, but Zero only clamped down harder, proving how badly he wanted the issue of his sexuality to remain in the dark to their parents. Besides, Zero was, at the moment, bisexual, so the children option was still a possibility. But then again, even if he did have kids, he would want them to be free to choose their own path as well.

"Ughhh... Ah, you caught me..." he laughed weakly, trying to look embarrassed. "Well, Ichiru and I are going to bed now, I've got to be at the agency by ten for my first photo shoot. Night!" he called, rushing off to their room as he dragged his brother along.

"You didn't have to be so rough." Ichiru pouted as he closed the door behind him.

"And you didn't have to make out with my hand." Zero mumbled in irritation, sitting on the edge of the king-sized mattress that still sat in the same exact spot from the time he had been caught with his hand down his pants, figuratively speaking.

"Oh, but you shouldn't have any problems, since you've used that hand to practice making out when you were younger." the younger twin smirked, changing out of his day clothes into golden pajamas.

"You swore you'd never mention that again!" Zero said, eyes wide and threatening in a comical, well to Ichiru, manner.

"But it was so hilarious!" he laughed, throwing himself onto the lavender sheets, cradling an arm to his chest. "'Kanon! Oh you're so cute! Could I have just one kiss?" Ichiru sloppily ran his tongue along his own hand.

"Oh shut the hell up." Zero rolled his eyes at his brother's over-exaggerated childishness. "Why don't you want the Café?" he added on a serious note, changing into cream colored lounge pants and tank top.

"You're a mean drunk, huh? It won't be any fun to work without you." Ichiru coughed, breathing heavily from laughing so hard. "We're either going to run this together or not at all. I haven't decided what to do with my life yet, but whatever it is, I want it to be in a similar field where you'll be close by." he shrugged, pulling out his laptop to look through the thumb drive Kaname had given him.

"Ichiru, did it ever occur to you that we're going to have to live apart one day? We're going to have our own lives. You'll probably get married to some gorgeous girl and get rich off of whatever you decide to do, and I'll be modeling, traveling from country to country."

"I don't need any of that." he stated simply, not looking away from his computer screen with a frown. "I support you modeling only because it's your dream, but I don't want it to take you away from me. Mom, dad, they'll be gone one day, and we'll only have each other. It started that way, and so it should end."

Zero frowned, seriously worried for his brother. Maybe, maybe he would be able to bring his brother along somehow. He was right in the sense that they would one day be all that each other had, and he couldn't just abandon his twin like that. But wouldn't that be selfish of him to disturb his brother's dream for his own? What was his dream going to be anyway?

"You know, people aren't going to like you if you have a clingy, brother complex."

"I only need Zero to like me." Ichiru said, turning clear lilac eyes to his brother. "No one else really matters."

"You're missing my point, Ichiru." he sighed in exhaustion, burying himself under the covers at his twin's side.

"You're point's coming across clearly, I just don't care about people that aren't you or me. Not that much anyways. Mom and dad are fine obviously, and I don't care about interacting with customers, but I could get by with just you for company for the rest of my life. I'm not all that fond of sharing you, since you're my brother, not theirs, but I guess having only me would annoy you."

Zero sighed as he curled up on his side, willing the alcohol to put him to sleep.

"I've finished your callbacks list by the way." Ichiru said softly, laying the thumb drive in front of Zero, who spun around to look for an explanation. "I wanted to help you out as an apology. I know how tired you are from today, and when that guy from the agency came around, he said you had to finish the list by tonight and bring it with you tomorrow."

Picking up the small thumb drive, Zero looked from it to his brother's earnest expression. He had forgotten all about the list, and decided that, even if he should have alerted Zero to the existence of the information, he should thank his brother.

"Erm, thanks, really." he said awkwardly. "Do you mind?" Zero pointed to the computer, wanting to check up on Ichiru's work and choices.

Ichiru shook his head, pushing his magenta Acer in offering to his twin. The files were neatly organized, each of them marked with one or two annotations and reasons for his choice. The fifty choices had been placed in the front, each of them clearly model material.

"You took care of this really quickly." Zero figured, agreeing with every choice.

Heck, they were twins, they had practically the same tastes in everything.

"Mnnnhm. I didn't want my dear brother to get stressed out, so I helped some."

Damn he hated when Ichiru did something so nice after Zero had to be a jerk, especially to keep him from being clingy. And the cycle repeated itself once again.

"You did good." Zero sighed, hugging his brother as he pulled the thumb drive out and set it on top of his completed forms. "Get some sleep, because tomorrow we're going to have a good ol' fashioned 360 live tournament."

Ichiru grinned, pleased that he would get to play with his brother again after such a long time of being at ends.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Sulking wasn't going to get him anywhere, but Kaname couldn't help obsessing over the fact that today was one of those very rare days in which he didn't get everything he wanted. He had no idea why that little stint at the end killed his entire day, but not getting a reaction out of Zero had been a real damper. Other than that, it would have been one of the most perfect Wednesdays he had in a while.

Reaching into his pocket, Kaname pulled out his house keys, jamming them into the locks and turning them effortlessly. He threw the keys onto a random hook near the door before shedding his clothes so he could change into a velvet, leaf green robe and lounge on a dark recliner in the spacious sitting room. He brought his iPhone with him, keying in a text message before placing it upright in a specialized holder in one of the arms.

**To: _Senri S._  
****Subject:  
****Message:**

**Hey. Want to play Call of Duty?**|

He didn't have to wait long before a response vibrated in.

**Can't. On a hot date with Rima. She's modeling saran wrap for me right now. I'll send pics later.**

"Ugh." Kaname sighed, leaning back and pulling a remote for his flatscreen out of a side pocket on the recliner.

He flipped on the TV and surround sound, powering on his back-compatible PS3 so he could play Kingdom Hearts Two. While the game loaded, he decided to pester Shiki one more time.

**I don't want nude pics of your girlfriend. I will, however, take some of your boyfriend.**|

The response was instantaneous.

**From the "no" to the "way". Takuma would talk my ear off if he found out.**

**And Rima likes you whoring her nudes around?**|

**She doesn't care, publicity is publicity, and it's not like I'm taking explicit photos.  
You're awfully chatty tonight. Something eating you?**

**Not in particular.****..**|

***Sigh* I know that ellipsis anywhere. Get on Yahoo IM. We'll chat there.**

Kaname up and took a short walk to his office, unplugging his Mac from the desk to bring it back to the living room. He signed on to the IM system, opening video chat. Shiki accepted to view Kaname's camera, but denied access to his. Rima was probably being weary of anything that wouldn't be a single still picture.

**senrithebeastshiki:** Well don't you look comfy?  
**kanameyekandy: **_*whispers* I know Takuma tops you._**  
senrithebeastshiki: **And how the hell do you know that?  
**kanameyekandy:** _I got him to confess.  
_**senrithebeastshiki:** You bribed him somehow.  
**kanameyekandy:** _Nope. I was just my usual, charming self._  
**senrithebeastshiki:** Ahh, I see, you threatened him.**  
kanameyekandy: **_Can't help it if I'm oozing sex appeal.  
_**senrithebeastshiki:** You keep hitting on my man and I will beat your ass.  
**senrithebeastshiki: **This is Rima. You can have Ichijou as long as we're all still friends at the end of this.  
**senrithebeastshiki:** Ignore what Rima's saying, she just wants to have us both, but that's cheating.  
**senrithebeastshiki: **Oh, but if you go out with the both of us then it's not?  
**senrithebeastshiki:** It's not, **because you're different genders**. If you guys were the same gender, then it would be a different story.

Kaname let their argument play out, smirking because he knew that it would pass the point of ridiculousness before they even noticed that he wasn't responding.

He decided to start a new game, just because he wanted to hear the theme song and watch the opening sequence.

A Scattered Dream  
That's Like _A Far-Off Memory_

A Far-Off Memory  
That's Like _**A Scattered** Dream_

I Want To Line The Pieces Up---  
**_Yours And Mine_**

Utada's calm voice hummed the intro before she began to sing, relaxing Kaname considerably.

_-In you and I there's a new land,-  
-Angels in flight-  
**-wonK uoY nahT noitceffA eroM deeN I- **  
_

_-My sanctuary, my sanctuary, yeah-  
-Where fears and lies melt away-  
-Music will tie,-  
**-wonK uoY nahT noitceffA eroM deeN I- **_

_-What's left of me-  
-What's left of me now?-_

Ahh, that Riku. If only he were real... With those cute seafoam-green eyes and silky, silver hair.

Silver hair...

Kaname's lips pulled into a pout as his focus shifted from Utada's melodious song to the gorgeous onscreen character. When the introduction ended, Kaname restarted the system, choosing to load his already completed file, last save point at the Alter of Naught, so he could play with Riku in his party.

He messed around a bit, moving on to the final boss, admiring Xehanort's smooth, cocoa skin in contrast to his long, choppy, slate colored hair. Maybe Kaname would get a tan this summer...

_-BUZZ!!!-_

The pureblood looked to the screen of his laptop long enough to read what his cousin had just typed.

**senrithebeastshiki:** Hey, tell Rima how hot I look in her panties.

A shattering noise pierced his senses, drawing Kaname's senses to a continuation screen. That's what he got for not paying attention... He keyed out an annoyed message to his cousin.

**kanameyekandy: **_You made me die, thanks a lot. D8 Jerk._

With a single click he opened photo sharing, browsing through his album to bring up an image of Shiki taken from an angle, his body was diagonal across the frame, as if someone standing over him had taken it, looking down. He was nearly expressionless, perhaps bored, or a tad pouty, but the entire picture, save for the panties themselves, was black and white, better to show off his sculpted abs and muscles as he slouched forward. The colored panties were baby and hot pink, in horizontal stripes, with lace fringe and a sakura colored bow on the front. They hugged Shiki snugly, easily outlining his erection from behind the soft fabric.

**kanameyekandy:** _You should see his collection._

A second window popped up, inviting Kaname to a three way chat with Rima, whom he guessed got onto her own laptop. He accepted, entering the chatroom and setting up the photo sharing.

**moonbunnyrima:** So what's this "collection" you guys are talking about?  
**kanameyekandy:**_ It's back from when he and I modeled lingerie and sleepwear for _Kaldia_. He kept going into your dressing area and coming back with the various panties he "did" you in, and paraded around in them. One thing led to another, and then the photographers were taking snapshots left and right._

He pulled a folder of his favorite shots out, placing them into the viewing tray for her to see. Rima recognized several of her panties, recounting each time that they had screwed in them. Towards the end of the slide show were a few pieces that she didn't recognize.

**moonbunnyrima:** And whose panties are these?? Hm? Shiki?  
**kanameyekandy:** _They're his panties._  
**senrithebeastshiki:** Hey, those are my dedicates you're talking about! They're called **man**ties. D:  
**moonbunnyrima:** Which is hotter, that or my saran dress?  
**senrithebeastshiki:** ...  
**senrithebeastshiki:** Cuz, it's time I went to live up to my screename.  
**senrithebeastshiki:**_ *Whispers* I'll try to get the webcam set up._  
**moonbunnyrima:_ Do it and it'll be just you and your manties tonight. DX  
_kanameyekandy:**_ Have fun. D':_

Kaname sighed, turning off his game, placing his Mac on the side table next to the recliner. Suddenly he wasn't so motivated to watch the yaoi implied ending of Kingdom hearts two, even if he still wanted to stare at Riku. In truth, it wasn't Riku that Kaname wanted to keep staring at, he wanted to study Zero, to try and capture his attention. No one had ever refused him before, not even Shiki, and that was when they were twelve and playing around.

So why the hell was that kid any different? Kaname had his address, his phone number, he could always drop by and ask him, or attempt to seduce him. After all, how hard would it be to convince someone, who might have orgasmed to your pictures daily, into sleeping with him?

No, that would be stalkerish, and creepy. And besides, the photo shoot tomorrow would give him plenty of time to needle the little human. He had signed up for adult modeling, and technically, anything Kaname would be doing to him tomorrow wouldn't be considered sexual harassment.

Glancing to the clock, Kaname wished that he didn't have to sleep so early. The computer display read ten pm, but his body still registered it as ten am. Damn humans and their crazy sleeping schedule.

With a frustrated sigh, one of the pureblood's hands slipped south, rubbing at the tip of his swollen head. He was thrusting into his hand before long, thrashing and writhing beneath the skilled expertise of his digits. His other hand explored his body, rolling his nipples between his fingertips until they became stiff, swollen peaks beneath his shirt. Kaname twitched and shuddered as he approached orgasm, hips pumping, legs curling inwards, back arching in delight as he conjured the image of Zero's face, his very expression from the picture in his portfolio.

_"Nnnh!"_

The pureblood furrowed his brow and bit his lip, whimpering softly, balling up in the recliner as his mind, his being melted, tension relieved in both of his heads, dripping along his hands.

He was sure of it: Tomorrow it would be worse.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Sweat was beading his flesh, making his clothes cling to him like a second skin. At first Zero thought that he was sick, that he had a fever, until he woke up with one of the most painful boners in the history of forever. It was like he had been overstimulated for way too long. His balls hurt with the strain of all the excess sperm that still hadn't been released, and an orgasm was very much called for, needed, even if it was still so early.

Zero turned to sneak a glance at his twin, who was sleeping soundly on his stomach, face turned away from him. He seemed perfectly fine, unaffected by his little emergency, and he needed it to stay that way. He shifted the covers back, nearly making it out of bed before a heavy leg pinned his own down to the mattress.

Ichiru was clingy even in his sleep!

Shaking his brother off, Zero made a mad, hunched dash to the bathroom. Ichiru, who was left alone on the mattress, sighed and turned over to his side, face pressing deeper into the soft pillow beneath his head as he tried to drift off once more.

_"ღ*~+~*ღ"_

That morning Zero sat on a bar stool in front of the tiled counter top like a patron, rather than behind it. He ordered Ichiru's special breakfast--customized tamagoyaki, along with an orange juice.

"Do you want any special filling in it?" Ichiru asked, staring off into space, not writing down a word his brother said to him.

"Seasoned pork and water chestnuts." Zero murmured, expression matching his brother's.

"What? Daikon radish?" Ichiru smiled, turning to walk away to cook what Zero wanted. "You eat like a pregnant woman." he laughed, disappearing into the back.

"Are you sure you should eat something like that this early in the day?" his mother asked, handing him his orange juice while tying her apron. "You should probably have something light for when you go over to the agency. If you get nervous, all that food will spill out when your stomach turns."

"I'll be fine mom. Besides," he said, thinking about the brunette asshole at the agency. "I think I'll be more annoyed than nervous today."

"If you say so honey." Hikari raised a brow, kissing her son on his temple before going to tend to an early customer.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"Just the man I was looking for!" Kaien grinned, clapping Kaname on the back as he stepped onto the fifth floor of the Knight Modeling building in downtown Astale. "The people at Kaldia were so impressed with the spread you shot for Razaludé, they want to book you for another one of their shoots, but this time, it's for an advert. You interested?"

The pureblood smoothed out his ivory polo with a lily-themed floral print in raspberry, shoving his phone back into his baggy charcoal pants, walking with Kaien over to the refreshments area for breakfast, noticing how his new tangerine robe brought out the golden in the light brown of his eyes.

"Of course." Kaname scoffed. "Since when have I ever turned down major mags?"

"Practically never, I thought you'd say yes." he smiled ruefully.

"Pfft, there's no practically about it." he laughed. "So what's it for?"

"This time you'll be promoting their new lubricant. It's pleasure enhancing properties are supposed to be so effective that it can 'turn your seme into an uke'."

"So then it's a two model job? Who will I be working with, and how dominant should I portray myself with them?"

"See, about that, there's good news and bad news, depending on how you look at it. The good news is, that they want new blood, so you'll be able to work with a newer model. The bad news, for you anyway, is that they want you to play the role of an uke."

"What?" Kaname practically growled, arched brows drawing together in frustration. "You're kidding, right?" he asked, noticing Kaien's stoic face. "Holy hell, you're serious!"

"You have a reputation at Kaldia, and even in the industry as an extremely dominant personality. The new product was created with you in mind. If you can convince them that you're a blushing, squirming uke in this, then they'll renew your contract for one point five million."

"Well I am a whore for money, and I do enjoy trying out new things." Kaname reconsidered. "Who will I be working with? Ruka, Rima, Sara, Maria?"

"No, think newer, so new, it's like you met him just yesterday."

Kaname's jaw dropped, his expression tuning joyous.

"They're booking me for a gay shoot? Finally? Wait," the smile fell. "with Zero? He has no idea how to function in a photo shoot!"

"The people at Kaldia think so. When they contacted me last night they specifically requested me to pair a veteran with a newbie to increase appeal. They asked if I had anyone good enough for the role, and Zero did check the box to specify that he wanted to work with adult shoots."

Zero, in charge of him? That was laughable. Then again, he did stand up to the pureblood. Maybe being an uke for a day wouldn't be that bad. Besides, it was only acting.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

When Zero entered the fifth floor studio at Knight Modeling, it had been transformed. The catwalk was hiding behind a massive white screen, setup complete with a two round beds, both donning silky sheets, one of them scarlet, the other azure.

"Welcome to the Lion's Den, _love_." Kaname practically purred into Zero's ear as his strong arms encompassed him from behind. "Or you could call it, the Vampire's Love Nest. Either way, we'll make the bed and sleep in it in this one." he laughed huskily, trailing his fingertips over the thin cloth of Zero's white muscle shirt, breath and touch leaving a warmth along his body.

"What the hell's going on?" Zero shivered from the touch, more than his interest arousing when his fingers played with the hem of his low-rise jeans.

"Are you ready for a night in paradise with your pureblood lover?" he lapped at Zero's neck, enjoying how he quivered.

"This is the photo shoot?" Zero asked, eyes wide.

"No, the beds are there for hot, raw sex, but you can use them for a shoot if you like." he rolled his eyes. "I need you to do something for me."

"I'm almost afraid to ask?" he said, shoving Kaname off of him.

"Hah! Hey, Kaien, this stuff really works. You should give some to Zero."

"I think we gave you too much." Kaien smirked, looking Zero up and down in greeting, making him feel very much like a piece of meat on display.

"Relax, I'm completely in control, just getting into character for the kid." Kaname reassured the photographer, unconvincingly.

"Well your character better be present too. We can't do this advert with two seme."

"Is this some sort of a sex ad?" Zero asked, alarmed.

Kaname nodded from behind, slowly circling around the silver-haired youth, pulling the silk obi of his robe loose, allowing the smooth material to slip from his shoulders and body to pool on the floor. Zero gawked, seeing in person what he had only jerked to in pictures. Kaname's body was beginning to attract him nearer when his next word came as a command, simple, yet so demanding as he gave Zero an obviously lust-filled stare.

_"Strip."_

_

* * *

_

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

**A/N:** Question - is the format bugging you?

Also, those emails are real. XD

I'll be thinking up some hotness for the next chapter. ;)

**Reviews:** Please and thank you!


	6. You're Not Helping

**A/N:** You'd think that I'd breeze through this chapter in no time, given its content, but surprisingly, I had writer's block when it came to this one. There's no lyrics in this chapter, though I heavily considered putting the ones for Jizz In My Pants here, changing something around to make it work, but then I thought better of it. But that doesn't mean that I've ruled that possibility out. If you haven't heard it before, you should look it up, it's so stupid that you'll have a right laugh. XD

**Warning:** Kids, don't try blow-drying your hair with a butane torch at home! Or at all for that matter! Or others hair either! You know what, just don't handle one at all and we'll all be good.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

So the infamous Kanamé Kuran was still working for Knight Modeling? Ichiru was honestly surprised by this little revelation, he had thought that, with the surmounting rumors surrounding the pureblood from every side, he would have gone off to London by now for a fresh start. He must have had to pay the press a pretty penny to keep them quiet as of late, because Ichiru could never believe that he would turn over a new leaf.

The clingy youth sighed as he turned on the mixer, receiving a lop of flour to the face as the machine made its first circuit. Ichiru cut the power, growling in irritation at himself for not remembering to incorporate the flour into the wet carrot cake mixture before setting the bowl on the machine. it wasn't as if he was stupid, or that he had severe memory problems, since he had been working at the café for several years, rather that once he got to thinking about something other than work, his performance started to slip, if the task wasn't demanding enough.

Ichiru coughed and snorted, trying to clear his nasal passages of the white substance as he searched blindly for a moist towel on the tiled counter top. His fingers found the twisted, textured rag, snatching it up to dab at his eyes before the flour could irritate them. The flour turned gummy once the moisture hit, clinging to his skin. Dammit! He should have brushed the powder off before trying to wash his face.

_"You're a hopeless klutz, Ichiru..."_

It was something he knew Zero would have said if he were there, and although it sounded insulting to the untrained ear, Ichiru knew that his brother would have said it with a light smile, trying to stifle his laughter and amusement as he helped him out.

"Did you forget to incorporate again?" Hikari asked as she took the towel away from her son, gently brushing off bits of flour from his face and hair with her hand. "This is what you get, you know? You thought it would be funny to catch Zero in the face with the flour when you both were younger, and now it's coming back to you."

"Mooooom," Ichiru whined, feeling the mess begin to tangle and bind in his hair. "You're making it worse."

"No,_ you_ made it worse." she insisted. "I'm trying to help, you know to not use water when cleaning flour because it'll cake." Hikari sighed lightly. "I guess I'll have to hire a part timer now that both your father and Zero aren't around."

"Zero's still going to help out." he muttered stubbornly. "He'll just be around less often because of work. He wouldn't leave us hanging."

"Sweetheart I know, but in case you haven't noticed, we're getting a little shorthanded." she chided. "It'll only be until your father comes back, and if Zero is here, then we won't need them to come in at all, but your brother needs room to grow and expand his horizons, just like you do."

"He doesn't _have _to, he has a perfectly inheritable business here." Ichiru pouted, feeling a fist crack down on his forehead.

"It's that kind of shortsightedness that will be the end of you." Hikari scolded, moving him over so she could take over the task of making carrot cakes while business was still slow. "You have that stubborn Kiryuu blood coursing through your veins alright. Go upstairs and take a quick shower, when you come back down I have a task for you."

"Yes mom." he said flatly, exiting the kitchen to climb the single flight of stairs leading to the loft.

Ichiru shed his clothes and climbed into the shower, not bothering to preheat the water before stepping in, which he thoroughly regretted once he stood directly beneath the icy spray. It was a perfectly fine thing to do in the middle of summer, but in the beginning of the year? That was like asking to become a twin-sicle. He could feel his nipples harden painfully and his nether regions trying to creep back into himself from the drastic temperature. Ichiru cupped himself as he reached for the knob and cranked it to the hottest setting, waiting as the icy needles of water began to burn against his pallid skin, reddening it as if a vampire were summoning blood through his skin.

Back to vampires, back to Kuran, back to his brother, who was probably with Kuran at the moment. It was a vicious, never ending cycle. His privates relaxed as the water warmed, and Ichiru was finally able to let go of himself without fearing for his manhood. He leaned forward and placed his palm flat against the burgundy tiled wall, tired from the plethora of thoughts and worries that welled within the back of his mind. The warmth of the water relaxed him, to an extent. Ichiru didn't really want to lather up again, since he had done so already just that morning, but the sticky flour would probably leave residue if something wasn't done.

With a sigh, Ichiru reached for a bottle of shampoo, flipping it open to diffuse a sweetly spicy scent that immediately focused his thoughts on his brother, again. He caught himself before he could mash down the cap in anger, choosing instead to place it on the thick rim of the tub so that it's scent would waft throughout the steamy room.

What the hell, it's not like Zero would be pissed at him for using some shampoo of all things. He squeezed out a small amount, generous enough to thoroughly clean his hair two times over. Ichiru tried to keep the thoughts at bay, he really did, and it was working too, until he rinsed off and looked up into the small mirror hanging directly beneath the shower head, the one he used to look into whenever he cut his hair in the shower, finding it easier to do so when his hair was drenched.

His silver bangs fell into his eyes with streams of water, continuing down past his cheekbones, ending in choppy points, lilac orbs dilated and distracted. Unconsciously, the teen took his lower lip between his teeth, biting, watching himself in the mirror as he did so, watching how the skin pinked and swelled. He licked his lips, tasting the tap water on his tongue.

Leaning his head back out of the water, Ichiru gripped the complimentary body wash, and a washcloth, lathering and gently massaging the foam into his skin along his frame, careful to pay extra attention to crevices and dips between muscles. He spent longest on cleaning himself down under, running the cloth and his fingers along the smooth contours of himself, feeling it grow in his hand as he closed his eyes and inhaled the masculine scent deeply. Ichiru willed himself to keep_ those thoughts_ at bay, moaning softly when a single train slipped out from his imagination, blurred by years of suppression.

_"Mmmnn,"_

Light touches were the best, they made him ache and yearn for more contact, more friction along the smooth, pink insides he longed to bury himself into.

_"Ahh!"_

The spray was beginning to go through a cool patch, making the younger twin lose his concentration until he opened his eyes and was greeted by a lusty stare from his own countenance in the mirror. His eyes were alight with desire, jaw slack, lips parted as heaving breaths poured from between them with a thin strand of saliva that dripped down his chin, mouth watering at his own delicious thoughts. Ichiru tossed his head back and let out a loud, throaty moan.

_"Ohhh!"_

The utterance resounded against the tiles, attacking him from all sides, making his stomach quiver in pleasure as his balls tightened shortly before he came, ecstasy burning a path through his core with every spurt of hot semen along the tiles, dripping down over his fingers in a thick coat. It was certainly a long time since he had last masturbated.

Ichiru brought his hand up to his mouth, still heaving deep breaths to try and calm his thundering heart. He gave a long lick at his own fluids, staring intently at his own reflection as he sampled the bittersweet sperm.

He had actually sweat while showering, unbelievably, and now the entire wash would have to be repeated. He placed his hand beneath the now warm stream, watching as the sticky heat was slowly rinsed off of his skin.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

Somehow, Zero knew that Ichiru was connected with the oddity of his first photo shoot.

He had done as Kaname had requested of him, stripping down to nothing, much to his embarrassment, before he was taken to the make up chair.

"It's easy, all you have to do is act on instinct." Kaien explained. "Kaname will be a writhing, squirming uke begging for you to pleasure him, and you, the ever merciful seme, will have no qualms about granting his wish. It's the seme's responsibility to play with and entice his uke, and this is what the product is about. It lets the dominant be able to relax enough to allow his other half to pleasure and take advantage of him for a change."

"Hah! He's probably never dominated anyone in his entire life." Kaname scoffed from atop azure sheets, admiring his own reflection in a full length mirror that one of his assistants held. "You! Keep the looking glass still! Takuma..." he smirked at the blond in question. "More blush on the back end, I want all four of my cheeks rosy for the millions I'm about to make."

"Whatever you say." the emerald eyed stylist chuckled, blending more pinks onto his backside, brightening his cheeks, making them look naturally flushed, as if from a fresh spanking.

"You may be onto something." Kaien muttered, leaning heavily on the armrests of the barber chair Zero was occupying. "Perhaps I should teach you by example?" he suggested, hovering closer to the silver haired youth.

"Leave that up to me."

Zero winced as a hand fisted his hair in the back none too gently, wrenching his head back so that he could gaze into the cold, piercing eyes of the raven-haired model.

"Get serious, love, how can an uke teach one of its own to be dominant?" Kaname said icily, swatting the Yagari's hand away.

"Watch it Kuran, unlike your little boy toy, I've actually hunted vampires before."

Kaname narrowed his eyes into mere slits.

"Yeah, back in the day, which makes you how old? Bring it on ojiisan, I'm quaking in my thousand dollar pumps."

"Gentlemen, please, why don't we let Zero decide who he wants to train him?" Kaien suggested, eying Zero with interest. "After all, _I_ only signed him_ just_ yesterday, and we can't send him into anything too advanced without prior instruction. For now, he should be free to choose who he wants to learn from."

Looking back and forth between the three men, Zero decided then and there that he would rather not take part.

"I can manage on my own, thanks." he said, rising from the barber's chair.

"Suit yourself," Kaien pouted, moving closer. "But let me offer you a bit of advice from an experienced seme." he wandered closer to Zero and whispered something unintelligible in his ear that neither Touga or Kaname could make out.

"HEY!"

The next thing Zero knew, he and Kaien were being pulled in opposite directions, Kaname and Touga exchanging glares. Was this the modeling industry, or high school? Maybe he really _would_ have been better off at Latreia Posé.

But with Kaname, that gorgeous model that he used to base many a fantasy off of, was standing protectively in front of him. And was that jealousy he sensed? For a second he was surprised...

"So where's the outfit I'm going to be modeling?" he asked, surprised when Kaname began to laugh.

Though neither impressed nor convinced of his self-proclaimed greatness.

"Amateurs..." Touga barked with a laugh as he turned to see to Kaien.

Kaname padded to the azure bed and sat on the mattress, very much in a way that a king would claim his throne. He leaned back to rest against his arms, legs sprawling open to show off his partial erection that lay casually against his stomach. Zero, in turn, could feel his own member begin to awaken.

"Zero... come hither." Kaname purred as he looked at Zero from beneath his lashes, patting the bedsheets at his side. "I'll let you in on a little secret about sex adverts."

The pureblood unearthed a tube of clear, blue tinted lubricant from between the sheets. He unscrewed the cap as Zero came closer, squeezing out a small amount onto the tip of his long, somewhat spidery finger that was perfect for probing... The silver haired youth sat at his side, nearly yelping in surprise when Kaname draped an arm around his shoulders. He brought the liquid to Zero's lips, smearing it over them.

It smelled of raspberries as the substance warmed his skin upon contact, dribbling down his chin. Zero brought his hand up and wiped it along his palm, accidentally tasting the flavored lubricant. He stopped to ponder what it was that he was consuming, but Kaname pulled him out of his thoughts.

"When it comes to sexual advertisements, you wear nothing but a smile."

Zero's eyes widened as his center of gravity shifted. Without warning, Kaname caged the silver haired youth in his arms and pulled him on top of himself onto the bed, causing their members to brush together. Zero's breath caught, heart hammering as blood rushed to his nether regions, giving him a painful erection for the second time that morning. Kaname's smirk was mischievous, condescending as he pressed himself to Zero, making him blush.

Was Kaname able to make him submit? So soon? So easily?

How drab.

The silver haired youth shifted and squirmed, trying to get up, but the pureblood wouldn't let him go. Why did he want to get up again? Sure he was a royal jerk, but Zero should have been savoring this moment! It was the first time he had intimately, on purpose or otherwise, felt another man's member since affirming his long debated bisexuality. In fact, it was the first time he had touched another one, period. So why was he trying to escape?

Oh, that's right, because he was a royal jerk!

"Hmm," Kaname snickered, slapping Zero's ass teasingly. "For a seme, you sure make such a pretty uke."

Even if it might have been cute at first, which, it wasn't Zero was quickly becoming irritated with the pureblood and his haughty, unprofessional antics. He was desperate to gain control of the situation, just to at least shut him the hell up!

_"Just catch him by surprise."_

Zero swallowed, hand traveling south to test out Kaien's advice. He wrapped his warm, slipery fingers around Kaname's member, feeling him jerk as it became swollen beneath his fingers.

_"Fuck!"_

Kaname cried out, thrusting once into Zero's hand, making him smirk in triumph.

Shutters clicked.

"Excellent! You have the makings of a seme Zero, such... underhanded methods, but I'll wager that you're an even better uke." Kaien smiled as he moved to a different angle, readjusting the focus on the camera all the while.

"Really?" Zero asked, rather please with the compliment, no matter how weird it may have been.

He looked down to the writhing pureblood, whose member he was still squeezing. The expression on his face was peculiar, like embarrassment mixed with chagrin and intrigue. He had never seen him wear any of those emotions in any magazine appearances or ads.

Grinning in delight at the payback he had in store, Zero flicked his thumb over the head, loving how Kaname writhed unwillingly, cameras capturing his seemingly vulnerable expressions.

"You know, I bet you've been _pissed_ because I don't _kiss_ your _ass _like everyone else does," he muttered, pumping him once with every emphasized word.

It was one common factor that Zero noticed both yesterday and today--that everyone kowtowed to him and fed his snobbery, as if they were scared of losing their jobs if they didn't please him. That was one thing that Zero would not comply to.

"but I'm not afraid of you."

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"What took you so long? I'd thought you drowned and was about to go check on you." Hikari said, looking up from her order slips. "Judging from the volume of traffic we've been getting lately, I'd say that, even with you here in the mornings, I'll still need someone extra for then and the late noon shifts."

"Okay, what does that have to do with me?" Ichiru asked, pumping some hand sanitizer onto his palms as he entered the kitchen area.

He looked over his plain outfit, loose jeans, medium wash, tucked into black high-top converses and a small gray tee, to check if all the wet spots from his dripping hair had dried yet.

"Honestly, Ichiru, honey, you'll catch a cold if you don't dry your hair properly." she scolded, rooting through a metal cabinet to locate a butane torch.

Ichiru eyed the torch with disdain as his mother held it just far away enough for him to feel a warmth as the sapphire flame flickered to life. Hikari ran her fingers through her son's hair, careful to keep him away from the direct flame at all times.

"Mom, I don't know whether to call this ghetto or what, but just because you call me honey doesn't mean that you have to caramelize me!"

"Oh, sweetheart," she chided. "Ghetto is using the heat from a toaster, or oven, or a hand dryer. Not everyone has a butane torch lying around in their pantry."

After a few minutes of silent, nervous, on Ichiru's part, hair drying, Hikari ran her fingers through the silky soft strands, laughing softly when her younger son let out a sigh of relief.

"Don't complain, at least you don't have to flat iron your hair now."

"Only you're able to do hair with a torch and spatula." he admitted, slightly scared.

"Well, in exchange for my hairdressing services, you're going to do me a favor." she grinned.

He didn't like where this was going.

"Okay?"

Hikari clanged the torch and clean metal spatula on the counter, walking over to a large white pastry box, heels clicking ominously after her.

"I want you to take this, and some lunch to your brother down at the agency."

"But mooooom, that's like six blocks!" he whined, not up to trekking half a mile in cool, nippy weather with a box of fancy cakes and food.

"Zero would do it for you." she reminded him, eying the younger twin sternly. "Don't you want to check on how he's doing at his new job?"

"I couldn't care less." Ichiru pouted, running a hand through his silky hair as he looked away to sulk. "Besides, they probably have a break table full of food over there, he doesn't need us anymore."

"That's even more incentive for you to go and haphazardly drop our box of café goodies at said table." Hikari smirked suspiciously as she affixed the box with the biggest 'PePuri Café' sticker they had in the establishment.

"You sneaky woman, you're planning on trying to expand business to Knight Modeling, aren't you?" Ichiru laughed, going over to bend down and kiss his mother on the cheek. "I love how your mind works!"

"Where do you think you got that devious mind of yours from?" she asked, raising a brow as if challenging him to prove her wrong. "Obviously not from your father."

"Good morning Hikari-san!" a muffled voice floated through the swinging door to the café.

"Tash-san! Ohayo! I'll be right out!" Hikari called.

"Take your time dear, I know how busy you all get."

"Oh, thank goodness for patient, nice customers, especially in a downtown area." she sighed, turning to Ichiru. "What are you waiting for, a formal invitation? Get going!" she instructed, thrusting the lunch and box of cakes at him before shooing him from the kitchen. "And tell Zero that you made the carrot cakes, and I expect him to not get rusty while working at the agency!"

_"ღ*~+~*ღ"_

Ichiru took the large box and paper bag, humming tunelessly as he exited the café and started down the street. It wasn't as cold as he had anticipated it would be, mostly because of the bright morning sunshine. His mind wandered as he continued to hum, doing his best to pass time during the boring, ten minute walk he would have to endure.

About halfway to the Knight Modeling building, the younger twin was obsessing over his parched throat, but he knew the drink he wanted most wasn't for sale. As he passed a gas station, he decided to drop in for a Monster energy drink instead of stealing the one that was meant for Zero.

Upon entering the small convenience store, Ichiru couldn't help but overhear an argument going on in the back.

"Please, I need this job, my grants barely pay for tuition, and I have to pay for class fees, living arrangements, and books. Do you know how much books for law school costs?" a male was saying in a distressed voice. "My cousin just lost his job too, and he's been paying half the rent, for food and utilities. He's been looking, and might get one soon, but we can't depend on a maybe."

"Look, I'm sorry, but business hasn't been going all that great for us. The newer stations are outselling us because they lower the price of their products by one cent." a second man explained. "One cent, Kain-kun, to keep up with them that means we have to lower everything by two cents, it makes a difference, it really does, and since Kinaru-san has a wife and kids, they're more in need. I'm sorry, you're an excellent worker, but we can't afford to keep you."

"... I understand, I don't want to put anyone out of a job who's more in need than I am."

The two men emerged from the back, one of them middle aged, the other young, older than Ichiru, but still just as useful. His strawberry blond hair was wild in the back and somewhat slicked and stylized in the front. Ichiru's eyes were trained on him, Kain? Judging from his lack of uniform and discouraged golden eyes, today wasn't his first day of unemployment.

The younger twin could feel a tug at the corner of his mouth, an unusual sensation of pity welling up inside of him.

Why not?

"Hey you, Kain-san."

The strawberry blond turned to him, nostrils flaring slightly.

"Yes?" he asked in a stiff lipped manner.

A vampire.

Ichiru wouldn't be surprised if it was more discrimination than situation that drove the man's decision.

"I don't know you, obviously, but there's an opening at my family's café, and you sound like you could use the money." he started, placing the tall can on the counter so it could be rung up. "We're an old hunter family, and my mom is a little weary of vampires, but she's a good person, and if you explain the situation to her, I'm sure that she'd be willing to employ you. in fact," Ichiru shifted the packages to one arm so he could fish out a five from his pocket. "you should come with me. I'll talk to her too. We don't discriminate, and she can sense a good person when she sees one. I can too."

They didn't discriminate, not really. He'd have to keep an eye on his mom for the first few weeks until she began to trust him more, but once she did, she would treat him like family, if she liked him. It's happened before, and Ichiru wouldn't have been surprised if it were a possibility to this day.

Kain smiled warmly, life sparking behind his gold irises.

"Honestly? You'd do that for someone you just met?"

"Everyone needs help sometimes." he shrugged. "Your first task, and I'll even pay you personally for doing this, is to carry this box of cakes and follow me down to the Knight Modeling building. I'm making an official delivery, so be careful with them." he bullshitted, about the last part.

Of course he intended to pay Kain though. It's the 'official' part of the delivery that he enjoyed inflating in importance. The strawberry blond, however, looked speechless.

"I don't know how to thank you." he said, gratitude saturating his tone, making Ichiru feel good about himself for helping someone out.

"Well you could carry the box for free."

"I may be desperate but I know a verbal contract when I hear one, and it's against the law to make me do work without compensation." he smirked, wording the sentence lightly to show that he had a sense of humor.

"You'll make a great lawyer one day." Ichiru laughed as he handed over the box, leading them out the door.

He liked this one, Kain would make a good addition to their bakery. Even if he probably couldn't cook, he did have a friendly air that would attract customers, probably even better than his mother's sometimes icy personality.

_"ღ*~+~*ღ"_

It only took a few minutes for them to make it to Knight Modeling, but the walk was more enjoyable now that Ichiru had someone to talk to. He still carried Zero's lunch though, vehemently refusing Kain's offer to carry that as well.

Not only was the building tall, but it was incredibly spacious, with intriguing architecture to boot. It look as if the structure was leaning at an angle, about to fall over if the wind blew just right.

Maybe that was the type of place vampires liked to hang out in.

Ichiru pursed his lips as he looked to Kain, who was admiring the spacious and well decorated first floor. He had to stop thinking like that.

"Ruka, I don't want to talk about it. Between here, and that café, it's like his personality changes. I wonder if it's MPD or if he just enjoys fucking with me since I can't figure the damn kid out. One minute he has balls, the next his head is empty, and the next he's trying to spurn me."

"Don't let it get to you, people outside of the industry, especially humans, go through severe mood swings sometimes. it keeps them from getting or becoming uninteresting." Ruka patted his shoulder, in accord with his sentiments on the anomaly of humans. "Oh! Hello again Zero-kun." she smirked as Kaname led them to Ichiru and Kain.

The younger hunter twin thought she was a bitch, but as he spared a side glance at his new coworker, it became apparent that he disagreed, judging by the way he didn't notice how he was gaping.

"I thought you went back to your café for lunch." Kaname addressed Ichiru, raising an arched brow in question.

"Yeah, and it was delicious, can I talk to you for a second, in private?" he asked the pureblood, who looked taken aback at his abrupt directness.

"Can't get enough of me." Kaname shook his head with a smirk. "Of course." there was something off about the silver haired youth, again, like that icy front from last night had suddenly appeared again.

_"You're going to leave me here? Alone with this gorgeous woman? I can't afford to talk to her!"_ Kain whispered in a rush as he pulled Ichiru closer.

_"Just think of it this way, she can afford to talk to you."_ he replied in a hurry.

"Don't worry, I don't bite, unless you want me to." Ruka smiled at him, brushing her fingers through her hair.

"On second thought, go." he insisted. "I'll deliver the food."

Ichiru nodded, intent on getting some answers out of Kanamé.

Like if he was planning on including his brother in his growing scandal.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

MPD - Multiple Personality Disorder

**A/N:** I have had to try and dry my bangs underneath a hand dryer at Walmart, because I was late for work and came right over after showering, (still had a tad of shampoo left in my bangs, and I wet and got it out in the bathroom) so, that's where the inspiration for the weird torch scene came from. XDD

I hope I'm not putting you guys to sleep with all the groundwork I'm laying. =X

Zero's photo shoot isn't over by the way. ;)

**Reviews:** Please, thank you, and I love you all. :)


	7. Breaking Under Pressure

**A/N:** Writers block plagued me for the transition, but as for the end, I had no problem with it. ;) I warned you of drama about two chapters back, now witness the tip of the iceberg.

Soft edit, I have to add the accents (for e's) for the story later, I'm going to sleep.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

Just who the hell did that royal jerk think he was? King of the world perhaps? No, just no. Zero showed him that he could be in control, but was it enough? He was going to prove that he was a valid contender in the modeling world, even if he had to force his name, just like he forced Kaname to behave during the photo shoot. Actually, now that he thought about it, what the hell was that lube that Kaname rubbed on his lips? It made Zero feel weird, like there was an itch for something, somewhere that he couldn't scratch.

Passing through the front door of PePuri Cafe, greeted by a warm atmosphere, Zero made his way through to the back, where his mom stood over a recipe book and a large bowl. She looked focused on her task, too focused to notice that her son was standing in the doorway. Zero smiled, as he took the opportunity to scare her like he used to enjoy doing so much when he was younger.

"So what's for lunch?" he asked abruptly.

Hikari jumped, crushing an egg in her hand, the yolk and whites dripping onto her laminated book. With her clean hand she brushed her bangs back, apparently confused as to why her eldest son had come back to the cafe.

"I thought you were going to be down at the agency all day." she pouted, grabbing a dish rag to wipe up the slippery mess.

"Well I was, but being around that haughty vampire jerk is more than I can take sometimes." Zero muttered, pulling up a stool to the white tiled island.

He rest his chin along the heel of his hand as he slouched over the counter, using his elbow as support while he fingered the wet ingredients in the stainless steel mixing bowl. Zero was curious as to what his mother was trying to make if she was referring to a cookbook that she had hand written herself, from memory.

"You're the one who wanted to model. You get your wish and what do you know, you already can't stand your co-workers." Hikari shook her head and rinsed out the rag.

"I'll get over it." he sighed, pulling the book to himself. "What are you doing?"

There were all sorts of corrections written, some smeared, in dry erase marker over the plastic page. The red block-lettered shorthand stood out from darker fonts, increasing and decreasing amounts of baking time or ingredients for the recipe.

"Tweaking the recipes to make the flavors blend, or stand out, or mess with the texture... the usual." she explained, carefully ringing out the hand towel before hanging it to dry over an oven handle. "Your father asked that I email him a remastered version of our cookbook so he could test the confections on his french colleagues for evaluation."

"Already? That's rather impressive." Zero raised a brow, sampling the forgotten remnants of batter on his index finger.

Hikari studied her son's reaction to her pineapple-coconut batter, looking for any signs of displeasure. She knew that Zero's sensitive pallet, would be able to tell whether the two flavors were in harmony, or overpowering of one another. The elder twin suckled on his own digit for a moment, unfocused his eyes as a thought crossed his mind.

"The coconut creme should probably be added_ before _the other flavor, in larger quantities than the pineapple juice because it has such a mild, mellow flavoring, but that depends on if you want to add fruit chunks to the actual cake and not just the icing, then you might have to use one-third of the juice instead of the normal quantities required here."

"You're always better with the tropical cakes than I am." Hikari smiled as she rumpled her son's hair. "I swear I can't stand coconut anything." she shuddered.

"Well you're better with the traditional cakes while Ichiru has a knack for vegetable-based ones." he added in thought. "He's a weird one alright, speaking of which, where is the little punk?"

"I sent Ichiru over to you with lunch just now, and some carrot cake, but I take it you two didn't meet along the way."

"You sent Ichiru to the agency?!" Zero stood without meaning to, knocking his stool over.

"I did, is that a problem? she asked, blinking in surprise.

What the hell? Who knew what kind of trouble Ichiru could get him into if he were to be set loose like a wild animal on the run at the agency? First adult shoots, and next, perhaps, porn? As tempting as that sexy jerk was, Zero did NOT want to have to get any closer to Kaname than necessary. Then again, he didn't want Ichiru getting close to him either.

"I have to go." Zero murmured, running for the door.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"Rumor has it that you slept your way to the top." Ichiru started, getting directly to the point as they pressed into one of the quiet corridors along the first floor.

It was a nasty little whisper that had been circulating for a while, though not out in the open. Ichiru had scavenged the forums and websites that Zero liked to affiliate himself with to keep himself in the know about his brother's interests. He had to admit, while the model was rather handsome, he had some of the most scandalous rumors attached to his name in the tightest of circles. While rumors were just that, he couldn't help but think that there was more to the picture than he was finding.

"What makes you say that?" Kaname asked, raising his brows.

Oh how clever, play dumb. It only served to make him more suspicious in the eyes of the younger twin.

"I'm saying that, despite your status, you've had to do quite a bit of coaxing and coercion to become the success you are right now. I may not know the details, but I'm rather well informed, for a human."

Kaname shifted slightly, his gaze and tone becoming condescending.

"So what if I like a good romp in the sack every now and then? Who doesn't?" he shrugged his shoulders, hooking a thumb through one of the belt loops in his jeans.

He tilted his hips to one side, shifting all of is weight to the corresponding foot with it while he added an air of aloofness to his profile, wearing thing the younger twin's patience.

"I haven't pursued questioning for very long, and yet I'm already getting tired of you." Ichiru sighed, shaking his head.

A look somewhere between hurt and fury ghosted across the pureblood's features before he composed himself, his stance still a slight stiffer than normal. Ichiru noticed that he was beginning to grate on his nerves, if only a little. Even the most confident elites had weak spots, and he had long known that defamation was Kaname's hot button.

"Let me voice my main concern then, what do you want from me?" he asked, not bothering to look Kaname in the eye, fearing that he would figure out that he was a fake. "I mean obviously I'm not someone special, anyone can see that, but I still can't help but wonder what you would want with me."

"I'll let you know when I've decided." Kaname spat, storming away, ever the drama queen.

The younger twin smirked, obviously shaking his confidence with the way he had approached the situation. Zero was_ his _brother,_ his _family, and Ichiru wasn't about to let some unknown egotistical, self-centered jerk messing with Zero's mind. Sure he may had given his elder brother a lot of grief at times, but he made up for it in as many ways as possible, because he cared. These people in the modeling industry would probably scrap him for the slightest imperfection. It was only a matter of time, and he knew that Zero didn't need any leftover attachments to tug at his heartstrings once everything was said and done, especially when he knew the nature of the attachment in question.

"And hopefully you'll decide to stay away from my family." Ichiru murmured, watching him grab the bitchy vampire away from Kain as they reappeared from the elevator, and leave through the front entrance.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

For the past couple of days, Kaname felt himself experiencing more anger than satisfaction at his career choice in modeling. Sure, the first half of the shoot had been surprising in a good sense, showing that Zero indeed knew how to act, however mediocre he was at it. Though Kaname felt that it was less of an act and more curiosity than anything, judging how Zero had squeezed and jerked his cock, rubbing his thumb along the slit more attentively than any normal 'love scene' actor would have dared.

That sweet torture was enough to drive him insane. He seriously had considered flipping the attractive little fledgling over and having his way with his arse like he wanted, in front of everyone in the studio.

But his curiosity wouldn't be enough for the second half of the shoot. There he would have to take on a more assertive role, since their first shoot was aimed advertisement to humans. The second advert would have to be much more forbidden, dominant, erotic. The scarlet bed was there for them to shoot scenes directed towards vampires, where controversy could spark, if not done in an obviously pleasure inducing way.

Though society was rather diverse these days, equality being extended far beyond the reaches of simple skin color and race, but actual species now as well, if Zero didn't shape up, the shoot would not succeed as planned.

If there was more dominance than lust, then it would be automatically tagged as a racist propaganda in vampire society. If there was more lust than dominance, Zero would look like a clumsy uke. It was a delicate balance that had to be maintained.

The pureblood considered Zero lucky that he was so gorgeous, with his naturally silver hair and his take-no-shit tsundere attitude, it was all very appealing. Though his icy act was very, very... uncute.

Like just now.

It was rather infuriating to have his authority undermined by a fledgling, especially when sporting that icy attitude he_ hated so much_.

So what if Kaname liked to sleep with people? That was no secret. Hell, sex was like his coffee, it's what got him up in the morning. Did it really matter who he slept with, since he was above most of those people now? Ugh!

Oh well. Whatever happened, he would still be above Zero, forever. He was a pureblood, and that kid was a mere human. Unless Kaname decided to keep him around, even with his vivacious youth and beauty, Zero's career in the modeling world would be but a short one without extended longevity.

Had Kaname intended to turn him? At first, no, after thinking through the benefits that he could gain by using Zero, yes, now, who the heck knew? That kid was throwing off his sense of direction with each new mood swing.

Holy hell, was this what he was subjecting his underlings to?

Not that it mattered.

"Ruka," Kaname started, walking with the female to the dark parking garage. "I'm beginning to think that humans are more demanding than we are."

"You're the one who wanted to work with him." she sung, voice echoing off of the concrete as she opened the passenger side door to his cherry Lamborghini to slide in.

"I just don't know right now. He's such a challenge, but there's something about him that annoys the hell out of me." he sighed, entering the car himself, slouching down in the covered seat as they both slammed their doors shut.

"Which is why I don't deal with humans." she snorted, flipping the visor down, threading her fingers through her hair. "But I guess you can't help what you're attracted to."

"I don't know. I've never been so stressed when it came to other people. Usually I just don't give a shit."

"Vampires, are, the way, to go-oh." Ruka sung again, pinching him lightly in the arm. "It looks like you've got it bad."

"Like previously stated, you're not helping." he whined, rather glad that he decided to return her favor and treat her like a friend. "Why must he make everything so difficult?"

"The challenge will be good for you. Once you figure him out, you'll realize that he's as dull and mundane as every other human out there, charm your way into his boxers, and be off to the next challenge with no strings attached if you trade him off to another agency." she stared at him from the corner of her eye as she continued to fix her hair, recognizing the uncomfortable silence. "You've done it several times before, what's the problem?"

"So you heard what we were discussing, huh?" Kaname sighed, fingering the empty ashtray absentmindedly. "Did the pyro hear us as well?"

"No, I kept Kain-san busy." she smiled in spite of herself. "He's a part of your faction, and rather intelligent."

"You're doting, Ruka." he pouted.

The busty vampire merely turned to him with her best smile.

"Then let's just take off somewhere. We have an hour for lunch, and we can spend it any way we like."

Kaname pretended not to hear the double entendre in her voice. Without making eye contact, he jammed his keys into the ignition, starting the engine with a fierce roar. He inhaled the sweet mixture of leather and gasoline from his car, and the soft cloying of pear perfume Ruka had traced along her breasts, suddenly wanting to drive to a place far, far away from downtown Astale, out to the countryside to lay in the orchards he was so familiar with.

"Do you want to go to the beach?" he suggested.

"During this time of year? It'll probably be too nippy for that." she shivered at the thought.

"Then how about I drop you and Kain-san off to your place? The pyro should be plenty warm." he smirked at her stunned expression.

"You're so going to pay for that."

"Is that any way to speak to a pureblood?"

"Nyun nyun nyun, blah blah blah blah."

"I _so_ could make you mute for your verbal disrespect, and it would be perfectly legal."

"And yet I'm still talking." Ruka smirked.

"Here I thought you were a shy coward." Kaname shook his head, backing out of his parking spot smoothly. "Looks can be deceiving."

Ruka gave a little laugh as he considered his words, knowing that she could be rather excitable when she met someone famous for the first time, especially someone gorgeous, and powerful like a pureblood, like Kaname.

"That's because it's been a while since you looked past the surface of things."

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

By the time Zero made it back to the Knight Modeling building, his twin, accompanied by a random stranger, were just exiting the property. They seemed to be chatting almost animatedly as they walked, discussing this and that.

"Do you mind if we stop by my apartment really quick? I have more casual clothes I want to change into so I can help you guys out today."

"That's fine by me, I don't want to return to the cafe just yet, I might catch some hell from someone there."

"So you have a twin." the stranger mused as he noticed Zero, brows raising in mild surprise. "Interesting, I assume he was born first because his scent is stronger than yours, but it's a slight difference."

But Ichiru wasn't paying attention to him.

"Zero!" he called to his brother with a smile. "Where were you? I brought you some lunch."

"What did you do in there? With Kaname?"

"What do you mean?" Ichiru asked innocently. "I only came to bring you lunch, but you weren't there. This is Kain-san, by the way, he'll be replacing you at the cafe."

His innocence edged into a smirk, and Zero knew he was trying to make him feel jealous that someone was going to work in his stead at the family business. Zero couldn't care less, as he knew that there was no way his mother would let him go so easily.

"Nice to meet you, Kiryuu-san." Kain said with a slight bow of his head in acknowledgment.

"Likewise." Zero smiled momentarily at the strawberry blond. "Are you sure nothing happened?" he eyed his brother in suspicion.

"Yes." he lied.

For a moment Zero considered his twin, wondering whether or not he should take his word for it. That _was_ Ichiru he was thinking about, and it wouldn't have surprised him if his twin was lying _again_ to keep him from being too rough on him during interrogation. He shifted his weight from one leg to the other, tapping his foot. Waiting for Ichiru to crack or contradict himself, much like he usually did under pressure, but to no avail.

"I'm keeping my eye on you." he warned, turning to Kain again. "Feel free to quit at any time, you have no idea what you just signed yourself up for."

"Thanks for the forewarning, but I need the money, so I'm willing to work through anything." he nodded.

"And hard work is always appreciated. Ichiru, don't make him pick up your slack."

Zero breezed by them into the warmth of the agency, not able to help himself from trying out the 'cool model attitude' just one time. It made him feel sort of rude, and he filed away a mental note to apologize to them later, not to mention his mother, whom he left hanging back at the cafe.

As Zero ascended the stairs, he mulled over the reasons as to why he had rushed back so quickly. The answer was simple--he was worried about his brother messing up his career.

But then why was his motivating factor, the one that had made him run six city blocks, back to work during his lunch hour, Kaname?

"Kiryuu-kun!"

What now? It hadn't taken him very long to reach the fifth floor, but the moment he set his foot in the door, someone was vying for his attention. Focusing on the speaker, Zero noticed Kaien, carrying a thumb drive and a small three ring binder.

"I'm sorry to bother you while you're on lunch, but I just wanted to have a little chat with you about your choices for callbacks."

"It's no problem." Zero smiled, trying to keep the situation with Ichiru from bothering him.

"Come with me." Kaien smiled in return, leading him over to the table with refreshments.

Nostrils flaring, Zero could smell the sweet fragrance of confections from PePuri Cafe, saturating the air with the scent of frosting, chocolate, vanilla, even strawberries and carrot cake, meaning that Ichiru had taken part in making cakes for the sampler he had dropped off.

"So, did you get rid of your brother?"

"How did you know?" Zero asked, tone sharper than he intended it to be.

"All the hunter families know each other."

Taking a pastry from a random box, Kaien pulled up a chair and sat at a vacant table. Most of the other staffers had gone to lunch as well, so they had the leisure to discuss whatever without much interruption.

"Speaking of which, how is Hikari-chan? Is she still as scary as she used to be?" he asked, mouth half-full of cake, hand before his lips so he wouldn't spill food as he spoke.

"It depends on if she likes you or not, but even then mom has her moments." Zero shuddered, piling meaty finger sandwiches onto a plate before grabbing a bottle of pop and joining Kaien at the table. "Does that mean that Yagari-sensei knows my family as well?"

"He gets along surprisingly well with your mother, but when it comes to Yami, he gets a little edgy."

"Why's that?"

"That's a story for another time." he winked. "But when you hear it, a lot of things will begin to make sense. As for right now, we're going to focus on your choices for the callbacks."

"You're having fun toying with me, aren't you?" Zero frowned over his drink, noticing the smirk Kaien was needling him with.

"All in due time."

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

The hour for lunch had been spent quickly, Kaname and Ruka returning to the agency about fifteen minutes before the top of the hour, both whispering conspiratorially to each other as Ruka withdrew a pastry from the PePuri Cafe box. Kaname did his best to avoid the sweets altogether, feigning like he hated them to avoid Ruka's coaxing for him to try one.

"It's not going to kill you." Zero muttered from his place at a vacant table as he looked over a stack of profiles. "Unless you want me to make you one by bleeding in it." he smirked.

"You just think that I want all sorts of things from you, is that it?" Kaname pouted, leaning back in his chair, arms behind his head as he stared out of a window.

"You probably do. As to what they are, I can only guess at."

A shuffling of papers could be heard before a stack was tossed softly onto the table, the wind it created stirring Kaname's bangs, making them fall more messily into his face than before. The pureblood tossed his head back to clear his eyes of the strands, catching the back of Zero's white muscle shirt as he passed. He looked from the teen's nice, curved bottom and gently sloping back to the folder on his table, glancing at it for only a moment before his eyes rested on his backside again.

"What's this for?"

"Kaien-san said that he looked over both our choices for callbacks, that they were very similar and he would be using a mixture of our lists." Zero looked him straight in the eye. "What of it?"

"Back to work everyone!"

"Nothing at all." Kaname smirked, letting go to rise and prepare himself for the second half of the photo shoot.

Now he wanted to pretend like it never happened? Zero was either very focused, or very stupid to think that he would be able to get away with what he did.

The red lubricant was traced along thir lips this time as they lay down, starting off with gentle touches to get back into the mood, Zero was exploring more carefully. He made sure to grope more, keeping curiosity out of his eyes and crude satisfaction at the forefront of his mind. As his fingers trailed over Kaname's chest, tweaking his stiffening nipples, his other hand slid south, teasing the expanse of smooth skin before his pelvis making him squirm and writhe excitedly.

Kaname was becoming severely impatient. If he wanted so badly to find out what wanted from him, then perhaps he would show him once the shoot was over. The sound of shutters clicking was, for once, beginning to grate on his nerves. Kaname felt like crying out in frustration from the lack of lower stimulation he was receiving, undulating his hips, trying to get Zero to stroke him _there_.

_"Ahh,"_

His breaths were coming in short, excited gasps as Zero's fingers traced heated lines along the inside of his thigh. Kaname shot a lusty glare at him, demanding that he be touched.

_"Just jerk me already!"_ Kaname growled in frustration, moving Zero's hand to the tip of his cock.

Legs spread wider as Kaname began to thrust into his manly hand, loving the fact that they were so soft from being constantly washed at the cafe, yet so rough from the fact that his skin was coarse because he was a male. Zero rose to his haunches, leaning forward over the sexy, haughty model as he lifted a leg and pushed it to the side.

Kaien was taking fantastic shots as the scene unfolded before him. The pureblood's scarlet face contorted into expressions of pure, painful delight as Zero's reflected the opposite, a sadistic smile painted on his features as he teased the red tip of Kaname's swollen phallus.

_"Mhhnnn"_

Eyes squint, Kaname spasmed beneath Zero's ministrations, thick, white liquids beginning to drool in small quantities from his tip. His back arched as he bit his lip, feeling the silver haired youth's heated length probe playfully at his navel.

_"Down, down!"_ Kaname cried, lifting his hips as best as he could, trying to guide Zero to his hole.

He didn't care if they were in the middle of a shoot, not really. If he couldn't be the dominant one, then Zero had better live up to his role of seme and fuck his brains out.

_"Z-zero... mnnnaahhh... hurry up and.... unh... fuck me!"_

Grinning sadistically, Zero let go of him, nearly earning a growl of protest before he grabbed at the pureblood's hips, hefting them up to angle his arse beneath his throbbing length. He laughed internally at the amount of payback teasing he was going to do.

Placing Kaname's cheeks against his thighs so that he had more reach than the taller pureblood would have allowed him, Zero parted his legs forcefully, leaning down to whisper heatedly in Kaname's ear.

_"Then tell me how badly you want it."_ he purred, slapping the head of his cock against Kaname's spasming hole several times in succession._ "What's the magic word?"_

**_"NOW!"_** Kaname ground out in his pureblood voice.

Over in the corner, Ruka, Ichijou and a couple of other staffers flinched at the sound of the command, their attention turning to the modern prince in case he needed something, even though their minds had already supplied the answer their instinct was steadily looking for. None of them could help since his command, his tone was so specifically towards a member not of their species, that they would have no power to soothe their eager liege.

_"Mnn, that's kind of sexy, but your little voice trick won't work on me." _Zero chuckled, licking Kaname's ear hotly.

So that was the infamous Command? Zero's mother had taught him about the special powers that purebloods possessed, one of them being the ability to command and control the whims and actions of their underlings. Too bad for Kaname, though, that Zero wasn't a part of his species. He was very, very close, actually longing to experience his first intercourse with someone of the same sex, or either sex for that matter. He had always imagined himself writhing and squirming, pleading beneath the vampire's touches as he had his way with him, but now that he had actually met the haughty bastard, he would rather die than tell him that his fantasies were such.

Kaname was ready to thrash, even if it made him seem like a spoiled child, if it meant getting what he wanted. He could hear Zero sigh, for a moment thinking that he would give in when he felt the tip of his cock against his entrance. The pureblood wrapped his legs around his pale waist, crossing his ankles securely, intending to impale himself on Zero's thick rod when the youth flexed, making his cock slap his own stomach, keeping it away from the experience that Kaname sought.

"Ninety-six frames! Good job everyone!" Kaien exclaimed, lowering his camera to check his shots. "That wraps up your first photo shoot, Kiryuu-kun." he smiled.

But as Zero backed off, Kaname attacked, flipping the order of balance, and the silver haired youth as well. The pureblood gathered his wrists in one hand, pinning them uncomfortably against Zero's back, making his arms bow in resistance, but Kaname didn't care. He used his knees to spread Zero's legs apart, reaching for the squeeze-tube of lubricant they had posed with. With one hand he unscrewed the cap and coerced a generous amount of the red gel onto his fingers before plunging his warm, slippery digits into Zero without warning, causing him to give a low hiss of pain.

The silver haired youth tried to thrash beneath Kaname's constraint, but the pureblood mistook it for a desire to thrust back against him, making him insert a third finger into Zero's already aching hole. He could feel every movement, every thrust, and the bittersweet symphony of pain and pleasure as his virgin hole was abused. He could feel a searing pain as Kaname scissored his fingers, stretching him apart none too gently.

Everyone looked on in shock, most frozen to the spot, unwilling to interfere with the pureblood's manhandling of the new model. Ruka remembered him mentioning earlier about how the lubricant he had consumed from the shoot kept his erection from receding, realizing that he couldn't stop on his own if he wanted to.

"Kaname-sama," Ruka started politely, knowing that she was no longer talking to her modeling co-worker, but a pureblood who still held the full power and authority of royalty in their society. "Please, calm down."

_"Didn't you see the way he was looking at me? Ruka? He enjoyed teasing and making a fool out of me, the little slut!" _he growled in a husky tone, dragging his fangs along the youth's back as he added a fourth finger to the protesting ring of muscle.

Zero tried his best to resist. He turned his head to the side so he could breathe as his body was forced deeper into the sheets, the pressure on his wrists and back increasing tenfold. He could barely utter a word, his lungs being crushed beneath the weight Kaname was exerting on him.

The pureblood simply had to have him. Since Zero had intrigued him by boldly lacing blood into his diet, Kaname had subsequently developed an interest in him. What the hell was that crazy kid thinking? And now he wanted to tease him to the verge of insanity? No, Kaname wasn't about to be disappointed like that. The photo shoot was over, and he _would_ have his way with Zero, even if he had to make it a public show to let everyone know who _really was_ in charge.

"Get Off!" a muffled growl came from the sheets.

It was ignored by Kaname, who was focusing on probing Zero's prostate.

"You're going to hurt him! he's only a human!" Kaien's voice sounded from behind as his arms encompassed the pureblood, trying to pry him off of the young model.

"Let go of me, I'm going to fuck him." Kaname snarled, infuriated that anyone would act against his whim.

Pulling his fingers out of Zero's entrance, Kaname swat at Kaien, who caught him by the wrist, glasses off, hair down, his eyes burning with a protective passion that all hunters were capable of displaying.

It was like the entire room had gone silent. One moment, everyone's attention was focused on the pureblood and photographer, both locked in a glaring death match. The situation between them couldn't get any more heated, and it didn't.

**_"ARGHHHH!"_**

Attention was only focused back on Zero once the jarring sounds of popping and shattering bones reached their ears. Though they cringed, only Zero could feel the searing flame of pain shooting up his right arm like a needle in an addict, numbness curling around his fingers like a suffocating glove. He was the one who had to suffer through the pain of feeling his bones ground against each other in his wrist, fragmenting at just the right amount of pressure, at just the right angle. It hadn't even been half a second, and already the little breath that Zero had left in his lungs had been expelled, gray splotches blooming in his line of vision, blinding him. That coupled with the twisting of his muscles, the sprains he received to his elbow and shoulder, Zero's brain kept thinking the same line over and over.

_I can't take it, I'm going to pass out._

Conversation was a distant buzz as Zero's brows furrowed, his ears ringing while he grit his teeth.

"Someone call an ambulance, do _not_ move his arm or else the damage might get worse." Kaien warned.

The photographer looked back to Touga, silently asking him for his help. Despite the fact that Touga didn't like the silver haired youth one bit, he still helped Kaien drag the shocked, nude pureblood off of an equally naked Zero.

"Ichijou, please clothe him, Ruka, could you fill a bag with ice please?" the photographer requested.

Both vampires nodded without a second thought, Ichijou running off to find a pair of comfortable, yet fashionable pants, Ruka finding designer handkerchiefs to wrap the bags of ice she gathered from a drink cooler.

Had Kaname just done what he thought he did? He hadn't meant to snap Zero's wrist.

He had only meant to fuck his brains out.

If Zero couldn't model any more, Kaname would lose a hot commodity, and therefore he would lose a LOT of money, and not to mention fame. Kaname could smell the blood pooling in Zero's wrist in small pockets where blood vessels broke, leaving internal bruises that would take months alone for them to heal. In the distance sirens waled to life, and Kaname still couldn't tamper down his hard on.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

**A/N:** I couldn't decide whether or not to make Kaname rape Zero in the one scene, as they already have a lust/hate relationship at the moment, and that could damage their already outwardly opposing dispositions, but I decided to get Kaname back to where he was and humiliate Zero. Ahh, how tempting the rape scene was though! (Maybe later?)

Pop. I hate that word when it comes to the beverage. I much prefer calling it soda, though they say it's a southern thing, but whatever.

**Reviews:** Please, thank you, and I would love you forever!


	8. A Mind Of Disquiet

**A/N:** A lot of research went into this chapter. I could just say 'Zero had a broken such-and-such,' but the explanation behind the type of break and its effects sets up a good part of the rest of the story.

This from a person who reads the dictionary. ^^o

This is a very long chapter, as I needed all of this information in this chapter, I couldn't find a place to cut it in half.

**

* * *

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

* * *

**

At least an hour had slipped by since Ichiru left for the Knight Modeling building, and she had still yet to hear anything from her younger son. Despite texting him to ask his location, she never got a response.

It wasn't that big of a deal—Ichiru went missing quite a bit, increasingly so since his brother had moved out. If it weren't for the fact that she had to sit through the steadily rising clientele rate alone, she might not have even thought to bother him.

But when he came back, he would get an _earful_.

"Kaasaaaaan!"

Well if that wasn't convenient, and he was calling her by a cutesy name, meaning that he either did something wrong and had come to confess, or ask a favor. Hikari set down her bowl of crepe mix and wiped off her hands on a damp towel, not wanting to get batter on her son's neck should she decide to strangle him.

"Where the heck have you been? Rush hour is fast approaching and you—who is this?" she asked, cutting herself off when she saw Kain.

He was definitely a vampire alright, Hikari could tell just by looking into his eyes. There was a softer edge to them though, a more gentle, if you will, nature lurking behind that enticing vampiric shine. He was the sort of vampire that she would have seen coming into the Association headquarters as a young girl, collaborating with the hunters to keep the peace between the species. He was tame.

"My name is Akatsuki Kain, Kiryuu-san." he introduced himself with a small smile and polite bow. "It's a pleasure to meet you."

"Nice to meet you too." Hikari murmured, feeling uneasy for being genuinely polite to a vampire she just met. "Ichiru, would you mind joining me in the back for a moment? Excuse us, Kain-san, have a seat wherever you like."

Kain nodded, never losing his small smile as Ichiru followed after his mother, giving him a thumbs up behind his back. The younger twin smiled in spite of himself, allowing a bit of his ego to inflate at his obviously good judge of character, since his mother was obviously not going to be rude to him. They pushed past the swinging door into the kitchen and through another door through the back into the warming weather ouside, where their conversation could be muffled from Kain's sensitive hearing.

"What's this about?" Hikari asked, awaiting an explanation from her son, not as upset as she would have liked to be. "Is he one of your friends? Because the last time I checked, you didn't really like to mingle with others."

"It wasn't mingling, kaasan." Ichiru pouted. "We met by chance today when I was heading to the agency. I stopped by a gas station to get a drink, and overheard that he was trying to get a job, to help pay for the rest of his college finances that his scholarship doesn't cover and living expenses." he raised his brows to try and goad her into accepting him. "That's when I remembered what you said about needing extra help."

Hikari chewed her lip gently, looking to the corners of her eyes as she thought things through in her head.

"I don't know," she said hesitantly, folding her arms. "What if one of us were to cut ourselves while working, do you think he'll be able to restrain himself?"

"Mom, relax, it's not like he's a senseless beast. Kain is intelligent, and he's studying law, you know, discrimination is against the law?"

"Can he cook, or do anything culinary?"

"Hell if I know." Ichiru shrugged, clasping his hands behind his neck. "But did you feel the pull he has? His last job was customer service, and I got a recommendation from his last boss. From what we've seen he's polite, and when he was asking his old boss about getting his job back, which, he was let go from only due to a lack of funding for payroll, he was even understanding when he couldn't be rehired because his former coworker was a working father supporting three children. He's generous, mom."

"Okay, okay! You don't need to use your pushy sales strategy on me, I'll buy."

Ichiru smiled in earnest.

"Thanks, that will mean a lot to him." he grinned, leaning down to hug her, placing a loud kiss on her cheek.

She laughed to herself as she followed him back in, watching through the porthole in the swinging door as he delivered the good news. Indeed, Kain did look happy as he grasped her son's hands and thanked him with enthusiasm. Maybe he _would_ be a good addition to the team.

The shrill ring of the store phone almost made Hikari jump, drawing her from the back as she politely asked a customer to wait for a moment while she answered the phone.

"PePuri Café, this is Hikari speaking, how may I help you?"

Hikari froze, her fingers curling into the cord of the phone as her brows knitted.

"With whom am I speaking?" she asked tentatively, as if she already knew who was on the other end.

Her expression became increasingly infuriated, fists balling until her knuckles turned white, until the plastic cord cut into her fingers. The rigid pose was held for a moment before she paled, her inflating fury leaving her like air from a balloon. Hikari finally released the curling cord before placing the phone back into its cradle. The anger was still apparent in her features, but traces of fear and worry were found in the way her lips trembled, the little pucker between her brows, and how her eyes darted about, as if she were going over a mental checklist.

"I'm very sorry, but I need to close the café. Could you please come back another time?" she asked, tone unstable.

"Of course Hikari-san." he said with a sympathetic smile, sensing her distress.

"Thank you very much."

"Mom?" Ichiru asked, not used to seeing her this way, worry of his own blossoming in his stomach. "What happened, is it dad?" his voice escalated in pitch as he asked, relief flooding him when she shook her head.

"Zero's had an accident," she choked out. "That bastard wouldn't specify until we get to the hospital."

The younger twin's heart dropped to his stomach, his legs turning to rubber, nausea bubbling up along with his own worry. His throat clenched, making him gag as if he were about to dry heave. He watched as his mother picked up the phone again and dialed pound one two nine, a soft clicking noise connecting her to the PA system.

"Attention customers of PePuri Café, thank you for your business, but we have a family emergency on our hands, and need to close down for the day. I sincerely apologize for any inconveniences this may cause you." her voice was tight and trembling. "Ichiru, check the stoves and throw out anything unfinished please."

Several patrons lifted their heads from conversation, some looking annoyed, yet sympathetic as they complied, a few of them muttering well wishes as they picked up their purchases and headed for the door.

"An accident?" Kain asked, brows knitting in worry. "May I come? I might be able to help with any legal issues."

Hikari studied him for a split second before reaching for her Chocolate Touch cell, so she could inform Yami along the way to the hospital. Fingers still trembling, she thumbed through the numbers in her phone listing, wondering if she should ring Zero first to assure him that she was coming. There was a list of professionals in her contacts as well, but she wanted to assess the damage, and talk it over with Yami before alerting them to any potential problems. She glanced at Kain once more to question him.

"Law is your major? Do you have any experience or credibility?"

"I know all work-related laws fairly well, since I've had to help peers with all kinds of issues like unfair wages, on-site on the clock injury, racial biases and the like. I've never legally represented anyone in the court of law, but I have several connections, as well as experience from shadowing."

Chewing her lip until it turned white, Hikari finally relented.

"Alright, you can come. We might be able to use your assistance." she nodded, throwing the register drawer into a time-locked safe, flipping all the light switches off before tossing her apron into a wicker basket. "You're polite enough, and if you can be of some assistance, then I wouldn't mind having you around as paid help."

Kain gave a small smile at that before turning to Ichiru, who had just come back from his task. His head was bowed, palm pressing against his face. His posture radiated waves of anxiety as he voiced a hoarse question.

"Are you ready yet, mother?"

"Let's go." was her only response, along with a jingle of keys as she locked the front doors and lead them out to the back of the building into the narrow walkway to the parking garage. They all loaded into Hikari's violet Camry before she pealed out of the structure, speeding through the busy streets down to the nearest local hospital, where the ambulance had taken Zero to.

"That bastard better explain himself when I get down there or so help him whatever deity he may or may not worship, I will not give him a kind death." she growled, ready to shred flesh.

The tension in the car was palpable, yet by no means directed towards Kain. He wondered what the hell could have happened to Zero in the short hour since first meeting him, but then again, Ichiru's twin was dealing with a nest of vampires. Hikari herself had no idea as to what happened to her son, and he felt like it would be nosy to ask, though he was curious, and he supposed that he would find out soon enough. From the backseat, he tried to catch Ichiru's eye in the side mirror since he was staring so intently out of the window, but whatever was on his mind, most likely his brother, was consuming his thoughts.

"Move it motherfucker!" Hikari yelled, swerving around a corner, jerking the men out of their thoughts as they noticed the familiar hospital sign.

She pulled into the parking lot for hospital staffs, swerving into a vacant doctor's spot, ignoring shouts and middle fingers from other drivers as she marched up the steps and into the cold ER lobby with Kain and Ichiru in tow. A man...

Was it a man? His dishwater blond hair pulled up into an artfully messy bun would have made people wonder, and it didn't help that he wore what looked like a short cut, long sleeved, koi pattered yukata with splotches of red and turquoise that seemed more like a dress than anything over his dark-washed jeans.

A man with glasses slung low on his nose turned honey colored cat-like eyes to them, smiling fondly when he saw Ichiru, touching briefly with Kain's to acknowledge his existence in the party, before connecting with Hikari's, expression softening into great remorse. He stood from the short aqua chair, placing an old issue of Ryu Kami back onto the coffee table beside him. The ex-huntress began cracking her knuckles one by one, as if she were counting down, refusing to be the first to talk to the stranger. He opened his mouth several times, only to close it and swallow.

Ichiru gave the man a brief once over before turning away, decidedly excusing him for his part in whatever might have happened to his brother. He knew in his heart that Kaien didn't do anything to Zero. His thoughts instead drifted down a different path, becoming bloodstained the closer they wandered to Kanamé Kuran.

Time was running out for him as Hikari switched from her right to left knuckles, cracking each one as she prepared to dig her fists into his beautiful face and stain his clothes with scarlet if he didn't start speaking. A few occupants sharing the waiting room shrunk back, one or two shooting glares at her for bringing more tension into an already stressed room, but at this point she couldn't care less. Her child was hurt, in pain, and she didn't know how, why, or how severe it was. Had she known that Zero was going to be left in the care of this negligent man, she would have forbidden him from joining with Knight Modeling.

Well, it was too late for regrets now.

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

The list of callbacks had been divided three ways between Kaname, Ruka and Takuma, the latter two both taking pity on the poor pureblood by deciding to help him out with contacting them with the decisions for the final group of fifty. All three had decided to use the office spaces on the fifth floor to administer the calls, but Kaname had been the only one to hole himself up in Kaien's office, flipping a switch beneath the desk to send an electrical current through the clear glass, making it fog where only light could be noticed from the outside, but nothing that was in the office itself. It was a handy privacy device.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." the pureblood sighed, raking his fingers through his unruly hair.

Kaname couldn't focus on his work as he dialed another number. His erection was still strong beneath the pair of boxers and low-rise jeans hugging his hips, making a noticeable bulge in the denim. He growled in frustration of the pain into the receiver, nearly startling the fledgling on the other end. Tough crap, she was one of the people Zero had chosen for a callback, a human, no less, which meant that she would have to get used to the nature of vampires if she wanted to enter the modeling industry.

After finishing his list, Kaname set the papers aside into a separate folder and fanned his chest and abdomen, opting to remain shirtless because of the heat his erection was generating. His head fell into his hands as he grasped at his roots, the pressure alleviating the slight headache that was beginning to set in, which was saying something for his stress levels.

Whatever. It was Zero's fault for teasing him so badly. Sure, Kaname didn't mean to snap his wrist, or break his arm, whatever injury he had sustained, but honestly, hadn't his mother ever taught him not to mess with a pureblood? The way Zero had stroked and fondled his bare skin...

His hard on throbbed in his jeans, making Kaname convulse involuntarily, shivers running through him as his body screamed for release. He could feel his nerves winding up as he fought for control over his instincts to find...

"Fuck!" he growled, tension peaking.

A small crack issued from inside one of the desk's drawers, relieving Kaname with a temporary distraction. He had been dealing with a lot this past week—managing the production of his new clothing line, photo shoots, choosing models, hosting the competition and ensuring everything ran smoothly, it was more than the average vampire his age had to deal with, and that was leaving out the fact that he held the responsibilities of a pureblood. Considering that he hadn't had sex in a good long while, the only thing that could truly alleviate his frustrations and stress, he was surprised that his small lapse in concentration hadn't shattered all the windows in the building.

Kaname considered just leaving the drawers shut, since they weren't his to dig into in the first place, but he thought he should at least clean up whatever he had broken, in case Kaien were to reach in blindly and risk cutting his hands on glass or porcelain shards.

"Perfect, now I'm breaking Kaien's things too." Kaname muttered, opening the top drawer.

A picture frame sat face down, buried beneath a dozen or so flash-drives. The pureblood scooped the drives from the drawer, compiling them on the desk in one spot, in the paper clip cup next to the one for pens and pencils. He gently lift the frame to examine the slivers and shards of glass beneath. To avoid cutting himself on the pieces, Kaname removed the drawer and flipped the broken glass into the wide-brimmed trash can next to the desk.

After replacing the drawer, he checked the frame to determine if the picture inside was harmed. The cracks of the remaining glass wedged into the edges of the frame would have to be removed, and the picture under is was more than likely scratched up. Hell, that probably wouldn't have happened if Kaien had used a digital picture frame.

Either way the damage was done. Kaname quickly disassembled the frame and dumped the remainders of the glass into the bin, setting the frame and picture aside so he could grab a sticky note and pen a quick note to Kaien and everyone else to let them know it was dangerous to reach into the trash, so they wouldn't cut themselves. When finished with that task, the pureblood busied himself with looking over the picture—the photograph.

All in all, there wasn't any scrapes or damages. It was faded here and there, probably due to exposure to light, which might have been why Kaien kept it face down in the dark drawer. Unlike most of the other pictures Kaien took and handled, the photograph was just that—a photo. It was developed chemically, not digitally, like current day professionals did. In fact, it was an old Polaroid, which they had discontinued years ago, dating the photo farther back than he would have anticipated, but it wasn't the fact that it was practically an antique that caught his attention.

A teenage boy, possibly around the same age as Zero, stared back up at him through excited honey eyes, his soft, dirty blond hair falling into them wildly as a grin illuminated his pale face. If not for the hair and eye color, and almost feline shape of the eyes, Kaname could have sworn that it was Zero. They even had the same hair length and almost identical parts. He was shirtless and running down a pier, his slightly toned torso half-turned to the camera as he pointed a katana towards the lens, in mid slice of the air. The way his fingers were gripped around the handle suggested that he knew how to use the polished blade.

"That self-absorbed narcissist!" Kaname huffed at the photo. "No wonder he wanted Zero in so badly, the kid looks just like him when he was younger. He's taking self-worship to the extreme..."

"Well if that isn't the vampire calling the leech a bloodsucker." a male voice called in amusement.

Kaname looked up from the picture to the blond vampire leaning in the doorway, thumbs hooked in his jeans' belt loops, his expression partially amused, yet otherwise cool.

"Who gave you permission to be up here?" he quirked a brow, impressed with the apparent balls on the teen.

"I came here of my own accord, since I got a rejection call." the vampire wandered closer, the smirk spreading across his pink lips revealing a dimple in his cheek. "You know, I thought for sure that I would make it at least to the finals, I mean, my photos were amongst the top rated on the KM website." he admitted, looking down as he shrugged, his icy blue eyes flitting to gaze into Kaname's from beneath his lashes.

The smirk was infectious, spreading to Kaname as well before he frowned in realization.

"The second model I chose to shuffle through the profiles must have marked you out, because I definitely remember checking 'yes' in your box." he mused in a velvety voice, placing the picture down as he leaned forward over the desk, placing the tips of his fingers together.

"That idiot was the reason why I wasn't chosen?" the vampire asked, brows drawing together as he wrinkled his nose in disgust.

"He is an idiot." Kanamé conceded with a laugh. "But still," he studied his face and blond, slicked back hair, a few errant locks of bangs falling into his coy eyes. "you were rejected officially by either Takuma or Ruka, so why are you here?"

A full smile tore across the blond's face, both dimples appearing as he sat on the edge of Kaien's desk, propping his thigh along the edge. His voice took on a challenging edge, nearly trembling with excitement.

"I'm here to see if I can change your mind."

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"Hikari," Kaien's voice was low and hesitant, almost as if he were pleading for her to understand. "Zero wasn't seriously injured, he got hurt during the photo shoot on accident, but it's nothing life-threatening, or crippling."

"Where is my son."

It wasn't a question, but a demand for information. Her voice was low as well, and surprisingly calm considering she still had no clue how damaged her baby was.

"Zero is getting x-rays for his arm." Touga said, appearing next to Kaien with a cup of coffee in each hand, setting them down to address her directly. "They'll be able to determine how severe the injury is, what type it is, and whether or not he'll need surgery before long."

Fists unclenching, Hikari's brows knitted in worry as tears formed in her eyes. She let out a small, sniffling cry as she reached for Touga, the model accepting her into a comforting embrace, resting his arms lightly, yet securely across her back as she attempted to fight back tears on his shoulder.

"Wh-what happened to my son, Touga?" she whined gently, grabbing a handful of his long-sleeved, navy button up. "Surgery for what? That neglectful bastard said it wasn't serious."

"Shhh, I'm sure Zero will be fine. Another one of our models injured him during the photo shoot today on accident when they were trying to adjust their poses. They were pulled apart before the damage became too severe. We think he might, at most have a broken arm, but the x-rays will tell us soon enough. He's been in the lab for about fifteen minutes now, so they should be admitting him into a room for care any moment now."

"A broken arm?" her sigh was a relieve one. "At least it's not that serious. Who did this to him?" she demanded, fists bunching up the shirt.

The raven-haired model looked unsure of what to do. He frowned, looking to Kaien as if to ask for his input, both men knowing just how Hikari felt about vampires. Kaien nodded, giving the go-ahead to inform her of Kanamé's loss of senses as he pulled out his blackberry to search for a number.

Ichiru watched the silent exchange, understanding their unspoken words as clearly as if they had screamed them in his ears.

"Are you the family of Kiryuu, Zero?" a young nurse asked the party, carrying a clipboard with her as she emerged from the main hallway.

"I'm his twin, where is he? How's he doing?" Ichiru spoke up at once, nearly running into her.

The nurse smiled kindly, taking a pencil from behind her ear beneath her short, wavy caramel colored hair. She flipped to a miniature map on her clipboard, drawing a circle on the waiting room and a line down the halls to room one-oh-four, marking an x in its place.

"Room one-hundred and four, I've drawn a map for you that you can keep if you like, but don't excite him. I'll have to talk to your mother about surgery."

"Stay with my mother, Kain." Ichiru frowned as he took the paper, thanking her politely before disappearing down the hall.

"Kiryuu-san, the results of Zero's x-ray just came back, if you'll follow me, I can show you the film."

"Can they come?" Hikari motioned to the men in the room.

"It's up to you if you'd like to bring them." she dismissed, leading them into the first room of a branching hallway.

"May I ask your name, miss?" Kain asked, nearly startling Touga and Kaien, who had yet to hear him speak until that moment.

"My name?" she looked down to her modest chest, realizing that she had forgotten her name tag. "Oh! Sorry, my name is Sayori Wakaba, I'm a nursing student, so you can just call me by my given, alright?"

Everyone filed into a small office of a pastel pink, the barely perceptible scent of Egyptian Cotton lingering in the air, unlike the rest of the hospital, which smelled sickeningly sterile. The trim around the edges of the ceiling were a chocolate with pink polka dots sprinkled on the boarder like candy. Kain watched as the nurse flipped through files with her manicured nails, her glossy lips puckering slightly as she looked.

Sayori retrieved a manila envelope from a crate of files next to the light board. Deciding to leave the door cracked, she flipped the switch to the display before dimming the lights. Hikari wrung her hands together in anticipation as the soft white light spilled over them, her breath was baited as she waited impatiently for the reveal. Touga snuck a sidelong glance at his old friend, suddenly regretting how he had been treating her son thus far, when he hadn't done a thing wrong.

After all, Zero wasn't his father.

"The technician had to take several x-rays along the back and whole right arm." she informed professionally. "We considered doing an MRI, but thankfully we were able to find the damage."

Sheet after sheet was lined up along the light board, of Zero's back, upper arm, elbow, and lower arm.

"As you can see, there was no damage done to the humerus," she ran the tip of her capped pen along the upper arm. "the radius or the ulna," she circled around the twin bones in his lower arm. "but when we got to the carpal bones," all of the slides were taken down, and replaced by two more of Zero's wrist. "this is where we encountered the fracture. Though I'd rather we found a distal radius fracture, the problem is much worse than we thought."

"Holy crap, look at the swelling." Touga murmured in a low voice, staring at the engorged gray area of soft tissue around Zero's wrist and hand.

"That's one of the problems." Sayori nodded solemnly. "We can't find it from the lateral view," the x-ray of his wrist through the side was taken down. "See this dark area in the view from above?" she circled a dark line in a kidney bean-shaped bone beneath Zero's thumb. "He's lucky the x-ray caught it. You wouldn't think it's a big deal if he just fractured a small bone in his wrist. You'd think it would just heal up in no time, but that's an incorrect assumption. Zero has a fractured scaphoid. That bone has a retrograde blood supply, which means that the blood enters the bone from the furthest vessel on the edge of the bone, and circulates to give it the proper nutrients, etcetera. The blood flow has been interrupted due to the breakage, and the bone isn't getting the necessary oxygen or nutrients."

"What are you trying to say?" Hikari asked suspiciously.

"It means that the fracture might not heal at all." she said gently. "I know you run a café Misses Kiryuu, and I should let you know that this type of injury not only causes swelling of the wrist and thumb, but because of its location, it'll make gripping and grabbing very painful for a long time, even if it heals. The fractures and misalignment aren't as severe as they could have been given the angle and pressure put on him, so he has a chance for it to heal after all, but we're still going to have to operate and set his breaks with screws, pins and titanium plates to ensure that if it does heal, it sets correctly. Also, we could perform microsurgery to the vessels to promote healing."

Hikari had to swallow past a lump in her throat to speak, her voice strained.

"Is he in any pain right now?"

"According to him it's not as bad since we gave him morphine, but I'd imagine he's still suffering." Sayori looked to the door, as if wishing she could go check on him.

"How soon can you begin the operation?"

"The moment we get your permission."

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

A map wasn't needed for Ichiru to find Zero, he only asked where his brother was to be sure that he wasn't in the middle of some important procedure. Ichiru let his instinct guide him—he could sense, he could feel in the air the path that would lead him to Zero, like they were connected physically by an invisible string.

The String of Fate was what he would have called it, but knowing Zero, his brother would have just rolled his eyes at that theory. Ichiru knew that Fate had been the one to gift him with a twin. They had a bond deeper than any other two people could, even lovers. They began t/ogether, and so they would probably end, so why was Zero so desperately trying to sever that which brought them together as brothers?

He somehow ended up before the door to room one-oh-four, which turned out to be closed and locked.

"Zero?"

There was no response. Ichiru tried not to panic as he jiggled the handle, sensing his other half behind the door.

"Zero..." he pressed his palms and forehead against the lacquered wood, closing his eyes to try to make him aware of his presence. "Nurse, nurse!"

Ichiru shot back through the halls, running back to the room where he sensed his mother and the other adults, none of them noticing him as Sayori discussed Zero's injury. He paid attention to the explanation, drawing several conclusions, most of which he feared from the conversation.

"You have my permission, do whatever you can for him." Hikari was saying.

"Excuse me, but my brother's door is locked, I can't get in, and he won't open it for me. He always answers for me, he always does!" Ichiru yelled, scaring himself from the hysterical note in his voice, his sanity beginning to unravel with worry and fear.

"He must have locked the door." Sayori fretted as she dug into her pocket, pulling out a set of keys, trying to run, her heels clicking loudly with her long strides.

They rushed ahead of the others, even Hikari, who was still utterly stressed. As they approached Sayori jammed her key into the lock forcefully, turning until a click resonated. She pushed open the door quietly, allowing Ichiru to have a peek into the room.

"We'll be taking him into surgery soon, so please be quick and don't be rough with him, he was complaining of a ringing in his ears, his hearing and sight fading in and out. There's no head trauma, but we're sure it's from the pain he's experiencing, though we're going to check again to be sure.

He barely heard the words she was saying, not with his twin lying on one of the two beds in the bland, sky blue room. His right arm was propped up onto some pillows. Good arm over his eyes, Zero's body was tense, rigid even, teeth clenched, blood dripping from his lip from biting so hard. Though Ichiru knew what he was feeling was only a ghost of the agony Zero must have been going through right then, when he looked at the swollen limb, his blood filled with cold fury, resonating deep pain.

"How dare he do this to you..." his voice cracked as he approached his other half, examining his face.

His right cheek was slightly swollen, a shadow sweeping across his cheekbone, what he knew was a bruise. Around his collarbone as well as the other bony areas around his right side, along his ribs, slight bruises were beginning to blossom across the skin. Ichiru cupped his brother's face between his palms very gently, pressing his lips to his forehead, a trembling finger tracing the hallow of his eyelid as he wiped away a tear of pain from the fringe of his brother's lashes.

Zero couldn't model now, with what would be happening to his arm. Surgery meant incisions, incisions meant stitches, and even then, when everything was removed, he would be left with deep scars. The insertion of the plates and screws would probably change the shape of his skin as well, so how could he model ion such a perfectionist industry with an imperfect limb?

With what Sayori had told them, he wouldn't be able to bake or ice cakes for a while either. Ichiru wouldn't let him if it meant that he would be pained to even hold the piping bag, or grip a spatula.

Kanamé Kuran took away those two joys from his brother, and with scarring and the chance that the bone might not be healed, it was possibly taken away forever, and he would be crushed when he found out.

Turning away, the younger twin bolted from the hall, through the waiting room and foyer, and back down the street to the café, seeing nothing but the heat of red through the cool lilac of his eyes...

Inside the room, Zero stirred from his thoughts and distractions, hearing finally returning to him.

_"...Ichiru?"_

**"ღ*~+~*ღ"**

"We better get back to the agency." Touga frowned, imploring Hikari to hold up her cell.

He held his iPhone up in return, allowing the phones to exchange information with each other.

"Now you have my number. Call me if you need any help, alright?"

Hikari nodded, placing her phone besides her as she stared out into space in her armchair in the lounge, waiting for Kain to come back from his talk with Kaien. She refused to be a part of the conversation in her current state, lest she murder the man on site. Touga gave her a quick hug before running out to the parking lot.

Both men were chattering about law details that he had to think about to understand. He cleared his throat once, signaling for them to wrap it up so they could return to the building and check on Kaname's condition.

"We'll be keeping in touch." Kain nodded, flipping his cell closed as he turned for the building.

"Bright kid." Kaien commented in passing, pushing up his glasses along the bridge of his nose. "He can be scary as hell though, when debating. No wonder he works for Hikari."

"She isn't too thrilled with you either, you know." Touga commented offhandedly as a company car pulled up to the curb. "You're lucky she didn't lop off your head."

Kaien snorted at that as they slid across the black leather of the cab in the back, his lips pursing into a thin line as he looked out the window, tugging at Touga's heartstrings.

"I'm sorry, I should have watched my tongue." he hesitated, hands hovering over Kaien's body, unsure if he wanted to be touched. "I didn't mean to upset you... honey—"

"Don't worry about it." Kaien smiled sadly. "I have you, and you're the only one I want."

The raven-haired model gave a small smile, resting his hands on Kaien's shoulders as they shared a chaste kiss. He pulled away and licked his lips, tasting the lingering sweetness of his mouth against his own, and dived back in for more of his sweet honey.

"You know I love you, right?" Touga whispered huskily in between kisses, gasping when he could feel the photographer's lips trace lightly against his jaw and up to his ear.

"Not as much as I love you." Kaien laughed airily, wrapping his arms around Touga and inhaled the manly scent of his cologne and skin, feeling Touga bury his nose into his hair, the two embracing each other for the rest of the car ride.

Their cocoon of bliss was broken when the hit the speed bumps near the parking garage, the car bringing them around the side entrance of the agency. Kaien stiffened as he exited the car, Touga coming to massage his shoulders behind him in the shadow of the building.

"What is it?" he asked, curious as to what could have him so wound up.

He was certain that the scene looked familiar but when Kaien tried to remember, his own mind shut him out, which was probably for the best, since he wasn't in the greatest of conditions at the moment.

"Someone else is here, someone who shouldn't be." Kaien muttered, pulling a key from his hairband to unlock the side door with.

But as they approached the double doors, scratches and dents in the once shining silver lock evident, it was clear that someone had forced their way in. Touga touched the door with the tip of his finger, surprised when it gave way just like that.

"Fuck!"

The whisper was barely audible, but it echoed in the stairwell, making both men stare to the airspace above them. They could hear the jiggling of a locked door and the muted paces of footsteps against metal as the unknown intruder climbed another flight in search of an open door.

"You call the Hunters, I'll incapacitate him." Kaien mouthed, his voice too quiet to make an echo.

"No, what if that psycho has a gun or something, we're unarmed you idiot! We may have hunted in the past but we don't know what we're up against with humans, which this one definitely is."

"Kuran! Show your fucking face you coward!" the man's voice thundered.

He lost all patience, letting bullets fly and ricochet into the door. Kaien and Touga knew that voice perfectly, since the last time they heard it had been less than fifteen minutes ago in the hospital. Anti-vampire bullets wouldn't hurt humans, the reason that sent them racing up five flights of stairs to where they could feel both Ichiru, and Kaname's presence somewhere within that fifth level, thankfully nowhere near the enraged teen and his bullets.

"I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU! HOW DARE YOU HURT MY BROTHER!"

"Calm your ass now!" Touga roared, grabbing Ichiru from behind, knocking the gun out of his hands and down one level, where Kaien backtracked to retrieve it.

"Let me go! I'll kill him! He's fucked over my brother's life! LET ME GO I SAID!"

Ichiru's voice was hoarse as it snarled from his throat, poisonous death lacing each word as a promise for the pureblood. He struggled, to no avail, in Touga's grip, thrashing this way and that as the older model carried him down the stairs.

"How the hell did you get your hands on Bloody Rose?" Kaien asked, shooting an uncharacteristic glare to Ichiru as he emptied the clip and unloaded the bullet in the barrel. "Your parents should have the weapons locked up tightly, the association's going to be pissed if they find out about this."

"No one hurts my brother and gets away with it." Ichiru muttered, not listening to a word either of them said.

Kaien stopped what he was doing, brows knitting as he approached the teen who looked so much like Zero, who looked so much like Yami, who acted so much like Hikari. He grasped Ichiru's chin between his fingers, wanting to test something out for himself. He spoke softly, and clearly, searching his eyes.

"Zero."

Emotion flickered behind Ichiru's eyes as he grimaced, tears threatening to fall from his eyes.

_"Zero..."_ Ichiru whispered softly._  
_

Kaien frowned, his fears confirmed.

"You need psychiatric help." the photographer murmured gently, petting the teen's head, watching as his face contorted in pain as he began to wail and sob, the beginnings of his mental breakdown wreaking havoc on not only his mind, but his body as well. "Let's take him back to the hospital, Touga."

The raven-haired model said nothing as he adjusted Ichiru in his arms, carrying him down to the ground floor where Kaien had already called the car back. They slid in and adjusted seat belts accordingly, minding the way the teen was laying across both their laps. As they traveled to the hospital, Ichiru showed little signs of life past breathing, as if he had shrunk back into himself to mull things over.

"He better not be going into shock." Touga panicked, shaking his shoulder.

"Mmn." was Ichiru's only response as he weakly swatted the hand away, barely noticing much else, not his mother's worried gasp, Kain's questions, not Sayori's inquiries or what had happened to him, nor the needles he felt being inserted into his arm.

Ichiru felt nothing, except the duality within him, the duality of the flames of passion and the icy indifference to the notion of death.

* * *

"ღ*~+~*ღ"

* * *

**A/N:** What do you think? Was it boring? The next chapter is far more interesting, since I already have it planned, and the plot becomes far more complex. It's like winding a rubber band until it snaps.

'What? All this over a broken wrist?' is what you might be thinking. If you think about it, Ichiru's reasoning holds true. Zero's main talents are looking sexy, (modeling) and cooking. Since modeling doesn't like imperfections, and cooking require both hands to be done effectively, Zero's basically S.O.L. with being able to do the things he loves. The fact that the type of break causes pain after healing, is no laughing matter.

Ichiru's matter will be explained in the next chapter.

**Review:** Please? It feels so good to be back, and I missed all of you. My love will be yours forever if you do!


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